


Mutual Crush 【Multiple Characters x Reader(s)】

by AnnalitaHJSX



Series: Readers and characters [16]
Category: Fist of the Seeker, Kengan Omega, ケンガンアシュラ | Kengan Ashura (Manga)
Genre: Love Confessions, Multi, Out of Character, Romance, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27584678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnalitaHJSX/pseuds/AnnalitaHJSX
Summary: This would be a series to be finished, I have a list of characters that I want to write about. For some of the couples, confession might take a long way, while for some others it might be just sitting on the corner. I will update from time to time.1. Katahara Retsudo2. Yoshioka3. Naidan Mönkhbat4. Misasa5. J6. Kanoh Agito7. Liu Dongcheng8. Albert "The Falcon" Lee9. Takayama Minoru10. Nicolas Le Banner11. Jose Kanzaki12. Alan Wu13. Meguro Masaki14. Hayami Masaki15. Hayakuwa Samato
Relationships: Alan Wu/Reader, Albert 'The Falcon' Lee/Reader, Hayakuwa Samato/Reader, Hayami Masaki/Reader, J/Reader, Jose Kanzaki/Reader, Kanoh Agito/Reader, Katahara Retsudo/Reader, Liu Dongcheng/Reader, Meguro Masaki/Reader, Misasa/Reader, Naidan Mönkhbat/reader, Nicolas Le Banner/Reader, Takayama Minoru/Reader, Yoshioka/Reader, character/reader
Series: Readers and characters [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1803949
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	1. Scent (Katahara Retsudo x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being the friend of both Katahara siblings, you found yourself feeling jealous to their close relationship, but who are you to say that? Such distance that prevents you from him and his scent...

“Here, take my coat.” You always hoped that he would say this to you, but you knew it’s never the case. His coat was saved for his older sister, Sayaka, a lovely young lady indeed, and you couldn’t help but feel jealous for how close they were. But in what name could you say that? As a friend? No, that definitely crossed the line, and you better close your mouth on this or you would lose both friends forever, and so it would be better if you keep your distance from both when you three were in the same room. Your heart was pumping with pain as if someone left a needle in your atrium, it hurt secretly. Maybe you should move away a little farther… you could even smell the scent of his cologne and cigarettes at this distance, or maybe that was just your imagination. You knew he smokes quite a lot especially when he is at work, those pressures on his shoulders could drive any man or woman at his age crazy easily, and yet he as the young master kept going on with it without developing an addiction to something, not even the cigarettes. Smoking might have become a habit of his, but he doesn’t seem to struggle if can’t reach it, at least you haven’t seen him draw it out a time today.

WAIT, how could you smell that at this distance?!

Looking around, you found no one except Retsudo around, and it was his coat on you that brought in the scents you just smelled. Where is everyone? You turned to your dear friend (and crush), wishing for an answer and hopefully it’s not you who missed something that made him wait for you to catch up.

“Retsudo, what happened…”

“What happened was that I told you to take my coat because you wore, uhm, too little to keep you warm.” Retsudo looked calm as usual, probably even a little frustrated. Was it because he didn’t get the chance to give the coat to Sayaka? Thinking about that possibility made you feel even worse, for you then realized that you were envying your friend for having a close relationship with her younger brother. Sharp yet slow, the pain pinning on your heart constantly reminded you of what you were supposed to be: a friend who had no right to interrupt… “Ahem! (Y/N), are you listening?” Retsudo’s voice dragged you back to reality again, “We can go and join the others, if you want to.”

“Oh, sure, sorry for keeping you here with me, let’s go and find Sayaka… Retsudo?” His face was blushing, this is quite rare to see when Sayaka isn’t around, “Are you alright?”

————————

Retsudo didn’t expect his sister to read his mind and figure out what he wanted by herself, as he thought he had hid it up in the closet: He liked (Y/N), and he hoped that he could get closer to them so he could at least be immersed in the scent from them, if not going any further for direct physical contacts. Sure he would prefer kisses and hugs rather than just sniffing like a pervert next to them, but they were friends, and probably would be friends only for the foreseeable future.

And then Sayaka decided to step in by leaving him and (Y/N) behind together “by accident”. Retsudo could imagine how she believed in an invisible and possibly nonexistent bond between her younger brother and that mutual friend, (Y/N), maybe simply because it’s adorable. He couldn’t blame her for thinking like that, especially when he himself wished to have such a relationship. As such, Sayaka found an excuse and left Retsudo to take care of (Y/N), who did not notice a thing because they were seemingly thinking about something else.

Retsudo could hardly say he wasn’t jealous of whatever thing that was in their mind. What is more, he worried for (Y/N), as they definitely didn’t wear enough clothes to keep warm (and prevent others’ sights, which were annoying and uncomfortable by Retsudo’s standard).

So he tried his best to get their attention, and shield them from those who wanted to approach, using his coat. The (maybe not) problem is, they looked even more attractive when looking closer, and Retsudo had to fight with himself to stay in control.

————————

It was at that moment, you looked up to him in his eyes and asked him what happened. Feeling like being caught on site when conducting misdemeanor, plus it was so close he could actually smell you, Retsudo couldn’t stop blushing.

And how could you not blush for him with that look?

You couldn’t.

For one moment, you two stood in silence, looking at each other, blushing. Unpretentious state made it difficult for finding valid options to erase the weird tension, or maybe it was you who didn’t want to let it go easily.

In the end it was Retsudo who broke the ice and took your hand, guided you out of the room as if that was naturally how it was supposed to be. His face was red, you could feel it when you touched his cheek. It would be a waste if you didn’t give it a kiss.

And so you did.

You panicked after that and tried to bail yourself out with flimsy excuses like if it was an accident, but the result was anything other than your expectation: Retsudo looked surprised but not annoyed, leaned forward and kissed you back, on your cheek.

“Now we are even,” you heard him whispering, “I’m sorry (Y/N),” you felt your heart sinking to the bottom, “but I want more.”

Retsudo kissed you on the lips. You could smell the scents of the cologne and cigarettes on his shirt when you taste his lips in his arms, with your heart racing for joy in your chest.

The secret confession remained a secret until you two returned to the ballroom with holding hands. You were greeted by a cheering crowd led by Sayaka, who seemed proud of her intervention.

The pain no longer exists, as long as he and his scent are close at reach to you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't believe that I typed all these with my phone...


	2. Caregiver (Yoshioka x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yoshioka took care of you whenever he could, and you felt guilty for lying back and enjoying it, so at least you could give out some compliment... And that's when thing went wrong, or right.

You were not good at doing chores, or any other thing that was unrelated to your job. As such, Yoshioka was the real lifesaver to you in many ways. After all, you couldn’t even imagine how miserable your life would be without his constant housework assistance and food provision. Speaking of which, how did he even have that time to help you as a captain of the bodyguards? You felt guilty, and yet you were more than grateful for what he had given you.

He was the crush for whom you would try to hide a photo in your locker if you were still a student at school.

But you couldn’t, not just because you were a timid grown-up, but also because you knew he would find it disgusting. Using his sympathy to make yourself more advantaged was impossible, and it would definitely end your already shady friendship: you were starting to wonder if he took care of you as a pathetic creature that used their skills of begging and compliment to force him to agree to come and look after you from time to time. You found yourself very attached to him, relying on him to come and feed you so you could be rescued from the pile of junk food and ready meals, as well as that unhealthy lifestyle.

Maybe that’s why you were very fond of him. You felt terrible for your impure feelings towards him, and even worse since you were enjoying his company during his precious vacations. You thought about telling him to have some rest by himself, but whenever you try that, he would refuse it and say “there’s nothing to worry about, I don’t think this is a burden.”

You were very fond of him with heavy emotional and physical reliance, indeed.

“(Y/N), do you want to try some of the new recipes I learned before?” Right now, Yoshioka was in your apartment’s kitchen, wearing an apron, cooking for you, “I saw you didn't have much ingredients in your fridge last time, so I brought some with me today. You don’t mind that I come and use your kitchen right?”

“No! Not at all! Feel free to use it, I don’t, um, I, you know I don’t use it most of the time…” how could he do it so well despite there being little time he could practice this being a bodyguard captain? You couldn’t tell, you preferred not to think about it, or it might be you who became a joke for thinking too much. Speaking of which, he took care of you so well, sometimes you were reminded of your mother by his acts. And so those stupid words slipped out of your careless mouth: “I mean, thank you so much for willing to share those delicious food with me, now I feel like am at home with my mom… oh no wait I didn’t mean to say…”

You heard a horrible cracking sound, and Yoshioka’s voice reappeared after a short silence: “Ops, sorry (Y/N), I just broke your cutting board, I will buy a new one later.”

You knew that couldn’t be an accident or caused by using an really old cutting board, for it had only been used by him once a month at most, and it looked well-maintained until yesterday. He was mad at you for what you said, that was devastating. You were afraid of the possibility that he would leave directly, but he didn’t. In fact, he walked out of the kitchen with dishes in his hands, no angry or disgusted facial expression, and was calm and capable as usual, which meant he turned down your offer to help again. All you could do was to sit on the couch nervously, hoping that you could find a chance to apologize and explain your mistaken words.

But in what circumstances could you speak out? And how could you explain? Were you dared to tell him your actual feeling hidden beneath that terrible mom metaphor?

You weren’t, so you cowardly remained silent and ate all he gave you.

————————

Yoshioka was pissed, not because of what (Y/N) said, but because he just found that he chose the wrong approach to get closer to them. He was very disappointed with himself for losing control over his own temper and even destroyed the cutting board, a gift from the parents of (Y/N) when they moved to this apartment and lived by themselves.

This is unacceptable, he thought, I can’t afford to scare them away.

So he used all his strength to make sure his voice sounded calm as usual, and it was harder than he could ever imagine. A part of him, possibly the part remaining alive as an assassin from the Inside, wanted to go and grab that little adorable idiot by their shoulder and show them his feelings, but his sanity stopped him.

Again, he couldn’t afford the foreseeable consequence of scaring them away. It must be a miracle for someone miserable and worthless like him to receive the full attention of (Y/N), who cared about his feelings and was open to everything he brought into their life. He shouldn’t be so confident when they said yes and permitted his intrusion in their life as a fake caring friend, but he did.

He felt like he could see his own failure in future. This doesn’t work so calm down, he told himself, at least you could end this peacefully so they won’t run away. And so he packed up his panicking inside and hid it under a smile, before he took the barely finished dishes (in his standards) out to appease the seemingly scared one outside.

And they said nothing about the bad qualities of the dishes he cooked today (in his standards) because of the distraction. They didn’t even react to the burnt fried rice… and they were definitely avoiding eye contact with him, was it because they finally found him fearful? Sure no one would like to be accompanied by an ugly creepy one-eyed man miserable like him… All he could think about at this moment was to go and buy a new cutting board, along with some desserts, to apologize and make up for his mistakes, though they might never wish to see him again.

————————

This is not working, you shoved another spoon of fried rice in your mouth and wondered, he didn’t seem to be bothered at all, but that’s what was worth worrisome. To make the condition even more awkward, you overate when you are distracted by your worry about his reactions.

Frustrated by your own stupidity, you pretended to be checking your phone but in fact you were just stared into nothing while sitting on the couch and aimlessly surfing through the website… until you noticed that Yoshioka was putting on his coat and going to leave.

“Yoshioka?” You heard your own voice trembling, “Are you leaving?”

He didn’t respond and was heading straight ahead, maybe he was pissed off by your thoughtless comment and rudeness after all. Maybe your friendship, if that could even be called so, would end here today. You were terrified by such possibility, and acted before your brain figured out what to do next.

You jumped up and rushed towards him, only to catch his sleeve with an empty mind, opened your mouth but had nothing to say.

“(Y/N)? Is anything wrong?” Yoshioka’s voice was soft and calm as ever, and he didn’t seem to be annoyed but rather surprised by your action, “You look pale, maybe you should go and take a break…”

“Yoshioka, please don’t go…” ok fine, you screwed up again by forgetting to explain anything that was on your mind, “I didn’t mean to compare you with my mom, I mean…”

“I don’t mind that, (Y/N), as long as you found it good…”

“No, it, it’s not good,” you had no idea what you were talking about, as your mind was indulged in mixed emotions, “I love it when you care about me and sorry that I took advantage of your kindness but I didn’t mean to see you as a replacement of my parents or equivalent maybe you think I am fake as hell but…” and you paused again, for you couldn’t afford being turned down in such a situation.

“But what? (Y/N), you don’t look well, I mean…”

“FORGET IT YOSHIOKA! Please forget what I said I knew that was stupid but please don’t be mad at me I like you a lot I can’t find anyone else to compare and I, um, Yoshioka?”

Yoshioka finally turned around and held your hands instead of letting you pulling his poor sleeve, with a more or less more relieved face, and a fragile smile, if that was the word to describe it: “(Y/N), I was not mad at you at all, and I appreciate your kindness and care. I am glad that we are at least still friends.” His smile looked painful, and that made you sad in turn.

Your emotional self finally reconnected to your reasonable part, and you heard yourself speaking again: “At least we could still be friends?” you repeated his words slowly, “But Yoshioka, I said I like you in a way I can’t find anyone else to compare with… Yoshioka?”

And you saw him blushing for the first time in your life. He was holding back something when he said he wasn’t mad at you, you thought, and that must be something you wanted to hear all the time.

————————

When Yoshioka finally found his voice, he realized that he was in an awkward situation caused by himself, and their eyes on him made it difficult to lie, so he opened his mouth, heard his own hoarse voice: “My apology for lying, I hoped we could be more than friends… I lied to you at the very beginning. I used helping you out and inviting you to taste recipes as an excuse to approach you. I know I don’t deserve your attention but… wait…” And that’s when he finally caught up with what they meant, “ Oh, I misunderstood.”

This time, Yoshioka thought when he dragged (Y/N) into his arms, I will show you the truth, no refusal will be accepted.

————————

This man was really good at changing faces, you thought so when he blocked you in his arms, and then you received a kiss on your forehead. His body temperature diffused through the hug, and you loved it. Your honesty gained you more than expected, as he finally recovered from that rigid state and kissed you again.

Being the caregiver of your lover is such a pleasant job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess it's clear my personal feelings about this man has caused some severe OOC. I shouldn't blame it on the coffee or food, but again I chose to type all this with my phone so it may look highly disoriented...
> 
> 有一说一，男妈妈吉冈我真的很可以啊！白天是妈妈晚上是爸爸也很——算了当我没说，喊另一半爸爸妈妈感觉好奇怪啊


	3. Face off (Naidan Mönkhbat x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your crush held many secrets that you had no clue of, until the day he decided to tell you. The feeling of uncertainty remained, but at least you will stay open and honest to each other from now on.

You had a crush on a man, a tough one indeed.

He had a lot of secrets.

He might have never told you any truth.

But you found yourself feeling no anger towards this man.

And where is he now? Lying on the bed in the hospital, unconscious, and deeply wounded. You would have no idea what happened to him if his, let’s say, colleagues hadn’t contacted you after sending him here. 

It felt bad to be the last one being noticed about the actual situations, and yet you had no means to set out your complaint to anyone. After all, who were you to judge their decision? You should thank them, and you did, which seemed to make some of them feel nervous.

“Naidan… what happened?” You sat down on a chair next to his hospital bed, murmured, “This looks terrible…” those wounds on his face and neck, they could be lethal, and maybe that’s why he is still unconscious, “Guys, seriously, what happened to you——guys?”

Nobody was there in the room besides you and Naidan, you wonder when did they all sneak out, maybe they also needed medical treatment? You remembered seeing Liu Dongcheng trying to cover his arm, where a large dark-colored stain could be peaked on the fabric. You knew they were all fighters of an underground martial arts organization, but usually it shouldn’t be such a huge deal for any of them… no time to wonder about that yet, you turned back to the man you cared about the most, tried to reach his face with a quivering hand, but you couldn’t do so with tears in your eyes.

You didn’t know how long or how loud that cry went, all you knew was that after sobering for some time, you felt your hand being held by someone else. Warm and rough, reminded you of the man lying on the bed.

And that was him, sitting on the bed with a confused face, but didn’t let go of you even if he definitely didn’t have enough strength to keep holding your hand.

“I’m sorry, (Y/N).” You heard him mumble something after that, but you couldn’t hear more. In fact, once you realized that he was holding your hand, for actually the first time, a large part of you quickly indulged into a weird combination of joy and worry, and the remaining part of sanity warned you to at least say something so it didn’t look like you were distracted.

“Naidan! You are awake! Uh, umm, what are you saying sorry for?”

“...... nothing,” the man looked at you with a tired smile, “it’s nothing, I am glad you could come and visit me.” Sure he was exhausted because of whatever fight that brought him so many wounds, and then you remembered that you should put his hand down so he could suffer less.

But he didn’t let you go.

“Maybe it will be better if I tell you.”

————————

Naidan was aware of how sensitive his identity was now, and he appreciated Liu Dongcheng for insisting on sending him here and calling (Y/N) here. He never thought he would be missing them so much before. It started as a feeling of a somehow shady friendship bond, but then he found himself reserving a spot for them in his heart, and it swallowed as time went on. The more he met them and hung out together, despite the events and contexts, the more he wanted to possess them.

After all, he knew he was never the quiet good guy he pretended to be. As a member of the Worm, he would never label himself as such. Aggressive and indifferent, on the other hand, would be the terms.

But he knew it would be better to behave so he could blend in, which also allowed him to keep (Y/N) in company. He was lying all the time, but nobody ever thought about questioning him. Being trusted even if he told lies gradually became a heavy burden that he could not find a way to let go.

And that might be a reason why he wished to die in the ring when fighting Ryuki, the Omega. If he died there, at least he no longer needed to worry about being discovered as a liar who cared nothing about human beings if necessary.

Yet, when Ryuki stabbed on his neck, blood was flowing out of his body, he found himself slightly regretted of what would happen next: of course he could hear Dongcheng yelling at his seemingly thoughtless action, but more than that, he couldn’t ignore how much he started to miss (Y/N). As his mind fainted into darkness, Naidan couldn’t stop wondering about what (Y/N) would do when they knew of his death.

Will they shed a tear for him? Or at least feel bad about it?

He had his answer when he was back to his consciousness: they were crying next to him, looking so hopeless as if they had met the end of the world. Maybe he just found a chance……

Would you love me less, if you know what I have done?

————————

“Um, oh, if you need me to… go out, sure…” you found it hard to open your mouth and say that, since you never wanted to leave his side at any time.

“No, no, I don’t need that, I mean…” Naidan suddenly pulled you towards him, despite all the devices connected to and patches on him, “please stay here, I need you to stay here, so I could tell you something, but… please don’t hate me.”

“I won’t! I would never hate you!” You almost screamed out with tears still on your face, “Naidan, I love you, I know I am annoying but…”

His eyes widened because of your words, and he covered your mouth to stop you from speaking more: “(Y/N), you don’t know me, I don’t worth that, but…” his fingers ran through your hair, “I love you, too, even when I lie to you.”

“What? What are you saying? Wait, you said…” you could feel the joy flowing out of your chest, but he didn’t stop there.

“... I said, I have something to tell you, (Y/N), maybe you will change your mind. I mean, it might be better for you if you wish to go.”

You couldn’t, and didn’t want to, get out of his arms, even if he was still covered with injuries. You knew you were blushing, but that’s nothing big to care about now. He said he had something to tell you, so that you could reconsider the thought of staying with him.

It was more serious than the topic about how to introduce him to your family.

“Now tell me, (Y/N), will you still love me after knowing all that?”

“I…”

Like he said, it would be dangerous to stay with him, and you did find yourself hesitating, until you noticed his face: he didn’t seem to be surprised, but…

“Maybe we could go and visit my family after you recover,” you heard yourself saying, “I mean, we can also travel overseas until the things here are dealt by, um, professionals?”

Such a naïve yet implying suggestion, but Naidan seemed to be amused by it: “Sure,” he smiled while snuggling you on the bed, “let’s go for an adventure if you like. I guess it will be fine as long as we are not in Asia.”

And I’m glad that you will stay with me, no matter who I really am.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I am very into typing stories on my phone these days. This piece is more like a reaction to the ch.86 of manga, I hope that I could write a happy end for it. So here this is, my apology that my poor imagination made it somehow very strange, but at least you now have him with you, alive and happy.


	4. Possessive (Misasa x female reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did you have a crush on a man who loved to tease you all the time? And how did you tolerate him for so long? One day you will have to face your heart and speak the truth, and so does him.

You were walking around and thinking about where you should go next after you realized that you just happened to be left behind by your company, who were aiming at going out for a lunch break while you were still deciding what to eat, classic mistake wasn’t it? It’s not a big deal, just you felt a little down for being forgotten, as you thought your friends and colleagues were aware of your brooding nature.

“Ah, (Y/N), here you are, getting lost again? Seriously, I wonder why your resume didn’t include the fact that you are bad at routing, it won’t get you fired, anyway.” The unexpected one, Misasa, suddenly appeared from nowhere had definitely shocked you more than usual.

“I didn’t get lost, I was thinking about something and I need some quiet space!” To be honest, you love him more when he doesn’t speak, or at least not teasing you, “Mr. Misasa, why do you always have to say something like that every time we meet? Does it bring you so much joy by making fun of me?.” You wanted to walk away, even though that meant leaving this man behind and giving up the chance to hear him say something. How long had it been since the last time you heard him speaking to you in a casual manner? Oh, it’s been just a week, but you felt like you waited for years. Having a crush on someone who loved to tease and even irritate you whenever he found the chance was hard, since it always ended up with you hesitating between leaving him behind and letting him tease you with subtle but harsh words.

“Wow hold on (Y/N), I thought you would be interested in trying a new restaurant this noon? You are not gonna just give up your lunch break like a little kid because you were left behind, right?”

“Sure I’m not!” You could only regret to say that after impulsively yelling at him, but his smile didn’t fade a bit, until you decided to turn around and run away from this awkward situation.

Your failed attempt died in no more than five seconds, and you kept telling yourself that you agreed to go with him simply because his presence blocked your way and it sounds like a nice restaurant, not for the fact that he smiled so genuinely it’s deadly attractive to you.

————————

On their way to the restaurant he recently found and believed that (Y/N) would love, Misasa had to admit that he should probably be a little nicer to her so she wouldn’t be so mad at him that she didn’t even bother to look at or talk to him. Maybe he should have told her colleagues about the place instead of simply lure them away to somewhere else with the coupons he prepared, and then pretended to be in the same place by coincidence, which would probably be a lot more natural by sight… but thinking about her having fun with others would be an intolerable torture by itself. He knew he couldn’t even imagine her staying close to anyone else, though he had no right to say so.

Sure, teasing her until she got mad brought him a lot of fun, but it was more about the feeling of security emerging from seeing her react to his words. I am such a stupid selfish pervert, Misasa thought, but how can I resist it? She was very close in distance, but for Misasa, anywhere other than in his arms felt like she was on the other side of the galaxy.

At least for now, Misasa thought, she is with me, and will stay with only me until we finish lunch.

Misasa sometimes hated himself for his cowardice, as he was not even dared to be honest with (Y/N) when there were only two of them. He knew that his colleagues were betting on which side would break the ice after all and how their relationship would go after that, and he wished he could at least stop it before (Y/N) figured out why some bodyguards snickered when she was talking to (getting mad at) him. 

But he didn’t, he liked that. He loved how everyone paired them up without bothering her, while he didn’t even pretend to be mad at their rumors, even if he knew that was wrong to do.

Besides, it helped to block the idiots away from her, so why not?

The good news was, (Y/N) loved the food there and eventually calmed down. Misasa knew she was enjoying the food when he saw an adorable smile showing up. I wish I could kiss her now, Misasa tried to suppress his desire by staring at his own food, but it all ended when he heard her choking on someone whispering behind them.

“I told you they are definitely dating!”

It might be a coincidence and not even related to them, but definitely a strike.

————————

What a shocking voice, you recognized that to be someone you knew in another department who was famous for their lousy personality. Somehow unsurprisingly, they yelled out for private issues in such a quiet place, but that alone couldn’t choke you.

The fact that they might be pairing you and Misasa up and then spread out rumors about you two dating as (distant) colleagues was terrifying. Although you have never heard of such things here yet, a rumor of office romance might make you lose your job, and the same for him. That would be worse than anything, and you could feel your face blushing for both shyness and anxiety: someone thought you two looked like a couple, how sweet, and how risky.

And your crush made it worse.

You could feel Misasa patting on your back gently, asking you if you were okay, acting so gentle as if there was really something between you two: “Hey, calm down, nobody is going to take it from you, kiddo.”

Seriously, you wanted to mute this man for at least an hour.

————————

Misasa knew his bad habit ruined it again. He could not say if he should be more grateful or not to the one who said those words. He knew that was one of those who actively involved in making the bet a true one, so of course they would yell out in excitement when they saw what they believed to be a date between him and (Y/N).

There’s no time for that, she was going out. Misasa only managed to give that one and their group a glance for warning before he could go out and catch up with her. Luckily, she stopped by the check out to pay for the food, but didn’t wait for him. Ignoring the mild jokes about their “small issues” from the old lady sitting at the checkout table, Misasa rushed out to find the apple of his eye.

————————

You found yourself hiding from him, but for what? Was it the fury invoked by his careless joke, or the fear of being considered as dating your coworker, or the thought that he was rejecting by saying that? It didn’t matter after all. The only thing you knew was that you just said something stupid to Kaike, who happened to walk pass by, out of an impulse, and you even said that you would go to Nawa for consultation about how to deal with Misasa. Sure you should ask his rival for that… speaking of the devil, Nawa was standing right there, possibly enjoying his time off alone.

————————

“Mr. Kaike?”

“Yes?”

“Can I borrow your...”

“*sigh* (Y/N), no.”

“But...”

“I don’t think using a blade could allow you to overpower Misasa, so, no.”

“......Never mind I can go and ask Mr. Nawa (walked away).”

“...... (laughed out) Misasa, don’t look at me like that, you made this happen.”

“...... (inaudible curses)”

————————

Misasa knew Nawa was scrolling his eyes at him when (Y/N) wasn’t paying attention. He envied that man for being so close to her, especially since their relationship was primarily based on him and his misbehavior. Uh, as if she would really live for you, Misasa could imagine Nawa mocking him like that, someone like you who always hurt her feelings had no right to make such a wish. Maybe she likes Nawa more, Misasa felt like he was suffocated by the poison flowing out of his own heart, a handsome man who prefers to listen than speak, but that doesn’t matter, I won’t give it a chance.

And so he adjusted himself, made sure he had put the carefree smile back onto his face, before interrupting the two’s conversation, and received a terrible wave of sarcasm from both of them.

————————

You felt like you were going to have a panic attack at any time when Misasa suddenly came out of nowhere for the second time today. You were so panicked that you couldn’t control your tongue and joined Nawa in verbally attacking him about his annoying behavior. Oh, he looked so sad… you truly regretted it, with every word you spit out spiked on your own heart, drowned you in pain. Maybe you should stop this meaningless attack and apologize for your rudeness, if he promises to stop teasing you? You thought so, and turned around, wanting to ask Nawa for his opinion.

Nawa was not there.

————————

Nawa walked away when (Y/N) was still releasing her anger and frustration gained from Misasa, quietly informing the latter that he owed him one. Surprised by his rival’s rare favor, Misasa could feel his chest swelling with happiness, for then there were only two of them standing there, facing each other.

But why did (Y/N) look like she was about to cry? Was it because Nawa just left? Was he such a threat to her and Nawa was the sole savior? Oh wait, was that tear for he cared nothing about her? There’s no reason to lie anymore, besides, Misasa could hardly suppress his anxiety at that moment, and so he gave up on hiding it. A mark was necessary.

After all, nobody else was around.

————————

A kiss brought by the heat of the moment, or was that? His lips were warm and dry, gently kissed away the tears on your face. Did you cry when you let your heart guide your words?

“Ok, I guess we all had enough from that stupid teasing and guessing game,” your heard him said so when he dragged you into his arms, “my apology for what I said before, I thought you would be annoyed more if I said it the other way.”

“What other way?” You murmured with your face hiding from his sight, “Wasn’t it a mean joke anyway?” You should have gotten out of his arms before anyone else happened to walk past here, but you didn’t want to. It felt great to be embraced by the man you secretly wanted ever since the first time you met him. He was actually much stronger than he looked like, you could feel the muscles hidden beneath his suit, and you loved it.

“(Y/N),” Misasa didn’t give you the chance to hide away, he kissed your cheek, forced you to look at him with one tight grip, “I’m sorry I teased you so much, but how could you always be so cute whenever I did that? I will not excuse myself, though,” he smiled at your blushing face, “I love you, (Y/N), please give me a second chance to protect you and make you happy again.”

You were stunned, and he didn’t stop there.

Since you gave no response, Misasa raised one of his eyebrows and grinned: “(Y/N)? My dear? Ah, don’t worry about how to react, I already take your silent agreement. You know, I didn’t plan to stop until I make you mine.”

“WHAT?! Misasa! You——” the rest of your words were muted by another long kiss. Fine, you thought, you always have a next time to scold him. And so everything went back to silence.

Except for those who joined the bet, but that’s none of your business at this moment. For now, it’s only you and him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, I kept the settings I had in my previous works about Misasa x reader, but I guess this is another timeline where (Y/N) didn't consider her feelings as negative but stayed honest to herself about her crush on him. So... um... I hope I didn't write something too OOC here.


	5. Any Clue (J x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you had any clue about how to date your crush, things might go another way... or maybe not. This (Y/N) is quite introvert.

This is stressful, even though you knew he meant not to stress you out but to help you get some rest. The heat radiated from the outdoor baseball field and audiences sitting next to you was overwhelming, and you were never a fan of sports games, not even baseball, the so-called mainstream and most popular sports in Japan. You felt like you were about to faint because of heatstroke at any moment.

But J liked baseball, and it was so rare that there’s a match between teams he was interested in during his day-off. And it was rarer for you to have the guts to ask him out, even though it ended up to be his task to decide where to go. Maybe you shouldn’t just say yes to all his suggestions, but you couldn’t.

How could you say no to such a good man, who also happened to be your crush?

“(Y/N)? Are you alright?” the voice of J diffused from a distant place, sounded like he was yelling from the other side of the playground, when did he go there? You slowly raised your head, looked around, and saw J standing next to you, looking at you through those sunglasses worryingly: “(Y/N), you look so pale, is it too hot here?”

“I——” you wanted to say that you were fine, but your world suddenly faded into a blank white: heatstroke had hit you. The last thing you could think about was that, even if you had any clue about what watching a baseball game outdoors means before this, you would probably still say yes for the chance to spend time with him. And now, wasn’t his full attention on you?

————————

J tried his best to hold up the feelings of helplessness and panic brought up by seeing (Y/N) fainted and almost fell down. Thanks to his training and experience as a bodyguard, he made it to catch them before they hit the ground. It was all my fault, he thought, how could I forget to warn (Y/N) beforehand?

Of course he didn’t warn them on purpose, for that meant he could have the chance and reason to look after (Y/N), the most introverted indoor person he had ever met and adored in his life. Being an average Japanese man in his late thirties, J did not expect his first actual serious desire for a romantic relationship would be invoked this late, or early, depending on who he was comparing to. And yet when he first met (Y/N), he knew they were different from any other one he knew, in a good way. It would be a waste of time to repeat how he had planned and waited nervously for this chance to take (Y/N) out for leisure in the most natural manner, but he clearly chose the wrong activity and even got himself distracted. J couldn’t blame it on (Y/N), who was kind enough to follow his interest and watch the match with him outdoors, even though they couldn’t handle the crowd or the weather.

Luckily, the crowd around them were friendly and definitely more experienced about handling heatstroke. People quickly opened a path for J to bring (Y/N) to somewhere cooler with shadows and breeze. An old couple even offered them some homemade relief for this kind of situation.

“Don’t worry too much,” said the old lady, “your friend will be alright with such a caring friend like you.”

J found it hard to smile back and say thank you to her, since he was the one who caused this, only if he had any clue about how to compensate...

————————

You woke up indoor, on the bed of infirmary, with J sitting next to your bed.

“Feeling better now?” he said, “I brought you some cold drinks and snacks, want some?”

“Oh, not, um, I’m fine.Wait, J, how’s the match going...” but your stomach thought the other way by growling loudly, revealed the fact that you were too nervous to eat anything this morning, “that’s, you, you heard nothing, please…” this was embarrassing, especially in front of your crush.

J smiled: “Then, would you mind having some snacks with me? I’m hungry now.” he showed you the bag of food and drinks, “The match can wait, it is recorded, we can watch it later if you are still curious about the results.”

“S, sure, I’d love to…” how nice of him to say that, and how could you resist such kindness? To hide your embarrassment and all the other complex feelings, and to ease that hunger, you accepted his offer, only to find that you had no strength to open the bag of bread or the bottle of juice.

So he opened them for you. 

This time, J refused to let you eat them yourself: “(Y/N), it’s okay. Only two of us are here in the room now, let me help you… here, take a bite first?”

Secretly enjoying his care, you half-unconsciously leaned towards him, and gradually went more than you should until you lost your balance. Nearly fell from the bed, you were caught up and supported by the man sitting next to you, which made you feel even more embarrassed.

But he didn’t seem to be bothered by that, and you could feel the body temperature and smell of sweat diffused from his body to you, which indulge your senses and desire to get closer.

————————

J found himself not willing to help (Y/N) laying back in the bed. It felt so nice to have them in his arms, even though it was an uncomfortable position, and he still had those foods in his hands, which made it difficult for him to hold them. As the older, more experienced mature people here, he was aware of his mistake, but his sensitivity defeated rationality, at least for that moment.

————————

If there’s a third person in the room, they might hardly have any clue about what’s going on. The tension between the two had blocked everything else away. At least for that very short moment, they only saw each other.

————————

You had no idea when and how J put down those things in his hands and helped you to get back to the bed. The only thing you knew was that soon he moved his chair to sit a little closer to you, and you were pulling an edge of his shirt with your fingers.

“Sorry, (Y/N), I would never ask you to watch an outdoor game with me if I had any clue about how many people are coming today.” You were not dared to look at him in his eyes, until you felt his palm placed on your shoulder, heating you up in many ways. “So, I wonder if you don’t mind me switching the activity of today?” Did that mean the end of today’s event? Your brain was probably still being affected by the heatstroke, too slow to understand what he meant, until you felt his fingers running through your hair, then landed on your cheek: “Would you accept my apology and be my guest today, allow me to introduce some good places to you? There won’t be so many people, and we can chat casually without yelling at each other. I bet you will like them.”

You could feel blood flowing to your head, for it sounded like he was inviting you to a date. “Yes,” you heard yourself murmuring, “yes I’d love to! Anyw——” anywhere with you.

“What was it?” His voice was so close that you couldn’t help but wanted to, and indeed looked up, only to find he was very close to you because of the way you two were sitting on the bed. It was almost a snuggle, and you could see him smiling behind those sunglasses.

You lost your words in his smile, with your face blushing and eyes looking at anywhere other than his eyes. All you could remember was that you did say “yes”, but what was that for?

A kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I am pretty into typing stories on my phone these days... wait, did I let this man took advantage of (Y/N)? I am not really sure if I did express the feeling of how two adults who were used to hold themselves back tried to reach out to each other.
> 
> 好像曾经和谁说过，如果吉冈是妈妈，那J就是爸爸（看看他资料里写的个人爱好，简直不要太正常一日本男性）......只是比喻啊！（逃跑）


	6. Birthday Surprise (Kanoh Agito x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the first time Kanoh Agito had his (pseudo) birthday been celebrated outside Japan by someone other than those he was familiar with there. It was the first time he started to enjoy celebrating his own existence as more than just a fighter and bodyguard with you there.

To be honest, you were quite shocked when AG told you that he doesn’t know his own birthday or anything related to his birth, after you finally grabbed your courage and invited him to your birthday party.You wiped your face frustratedly, as you realized that you might just invoked another negative memory of this man, who would typically avoid discussing such topics.

“No need to feel sorry for that, it’s not a big deal, I used to celebrate together with my master when I was still working for him. He…”

“Yes, yes, sorry for the interruption, I know that’s the great man who saved you.” and raised you up, and gave you the chance to be who you are now, you thought in an nearly envious way, “AG, please, I have heard your admiration for your master for more than ten times this month… wait, if you usually celebrate together, when is your master’s birthday then?” 

“December 2nd,” you noticed AG’s lips bended a little, as if he was trying to smile, “I was allowed to share the joy of having a birthday and celebrate with my master every year on that day.”

And that was the first time you saw him smile when mentioning his past, it must be very meaningful for him. Wait… Suddenly, you found there’s something you missed: “But you said you are not planning to go back to Japan in a couple of years. Are you not going to celebrate the, um, day this year?”

“Well, I guess I will not. See, I had cut off most of the contacts with people I knew in Japan, including my master and my... close friends.” It might be just your misperception, but AG looked sad for a moment, which somehow encouraged you to speak out before your rationality could help to make your words more acceptable.

“Hey, AG, wanna spend the day with me? I mean, ahem, at least we could go to the bar and let me buy you a drink for that… well, um, you were born? Ah, of course I don’t mean to bother if you don’t like it…” your disoriented words were even confusing to yourself, and you felt anxious and ashamed of your poor tongue and words, “Anyway, AG, I know it’s really stupid to say it this early in summer, but your birthday is important!”

“Why? (Y/N), I know your birthday is important and that’s why we are all drinking and eating here, but for someone like me who has no idea of their birthday…” AG looked even more confused than the time when you struggled to explain to him that Zetton is unreal, in a half-drunken state, “I don’t think it’s a big deal for me, no need to waste your time on----”

You stopped him there with a light punch on his chest, hard as rock but with temperature, unsurprisingly: “AG, dude, seriously, nobody here would think it is meaningless to celebrate for you.”

“But master is not here, celebrating his birthday without him and others around is----”

“AG!” you yelled in frustration, knowing that others in the restaurant must be watching, but you didn’t have the time to care about that, “I believe he wanted you to also enjoy celebrating the day you were born, even if you don’t know when it was, and that’s why he told you to celebrate together on that day, so you are not alone, okay?” you took a deep breath before sending out your invitation again, “So, AG, may I have the pleasure to hang out with you and at least say happy birthday to you on this December 2nd?”

AG said nothing but stared at you for a long time, but in the end he nodded: “Maybe you are right,” you bet you saw him smile when speaking, “I will surely save the date for you then.” He was probably just saying it without other meanings, but you couldn’t help to stop imagining the other possibilities.

And so, your birthday party ended with you distracted, kept blushing and giggling like an idiot. Some of your friends had definitely eavesdropped to your conversation with your crush, as you could see them snickering at you and AG when they left, but that’s not important to you.

All you had in your mind was how to celebrate the special day with AG.

\----------------

Agito found it very strange for him to feel elated and excited when (Y/N) insisted to celebrate his pseudo birthday for him. Before that moment he always felt like it would only be meaningful if he was celebrating with everyone else in the mansion for the master, even though the master would constantly remind him that such worry is extra, for that day is also his birthday now.

Or maybe, only maybe, he felt so because it was (Y/N) who tried to celebrate for him, and him only, this time.

Kanoh Agito, the Fifth Fang of Metsudo, had never felt such a complex feeling towards someone before he met (Y/N). Sometimes he would wonder why his heart always pumped faster when he saw them, and swell with acid and bitterness when they were talking to and staying close to someone else instead of him. At first, he thought it was because he saw (Y/N) as a really close friend, something he never had before, but then he negated his own assumption for he knew how it felt when he was hanging out with those who were close to him in the bodyguards and considered as his friends.

It must be something else, the bartender of the biker bar he frequently visited commented, come on AG, doesn’t that mean they are special to you? Agito found it confusing to see him winking and sniggling like that, so he decided to talk to (Y/N) more directly about this. They always had answers for his questions, so maybe they had more clue about what that feeling is? 

At that moment, Agito did not realize that he had already got used to being emotionally relying on (Y/N) for many things in his daily life, though it was significant enough to be acknowledged by everyone else other than him and (Y/N).

Speaking of which, Agito just realized that he hadn’t seen (Y/N) for a while after the middle of November, where could they be? The level of anxiety had gradually built up, yet Agito could only vaguely sense such change, and nobody did he want to consult with this feeling other than the one who disappeared for almost half a month.

And that’s why he rushed to them once they sent him a message about when and where to meet up, despite the possibility of being caught speeding.

\----------------

You had spent more than ten days trying to decide what to do to celebrate your crush’s birthday with him, who you usually saw as a mixture of teenage boy and mature man, and deeply adored. In the end, you scraped all your previous plans and decided to make it a picnic, so there wouldn’t be any problem about being stared at by the crowd, which you knew would make him uncomfortable. As a result, you had to give up all the must-haves your mother would insist you to include: huge, fluffy birthday cake, champagne or wine, cute decorations, blablabla. Instead, you put the final product of your days of practice in the picnic basket: a special Katsudon bento, mocktails (both of you drive, so no alcohol), some add-on foods, a new leather jacket as your birthday present to him, and, “thanked” to your friends, the love letter you never thought about giving to him.

Anyway, you decided to hide it up before he arrived, but you underestimated how quick he would react to your message.

“Oh, hi, AG, didn’t expect you to come this soon, I mean, happy----”

“WHERE DID YOU GO?!”

You didn’t expect him to be so angry at you. The excitement brought by carefully preparing for his (pseudo) birthday quickly crashed into pieces and disappeared, while the feeling of being misunderstood and wrongly treated made your heart sink down, with tears cumulated in your eyes: how could he yell at you?

But before you could complain about his rudeness, you were lifted up and held in his arms. It was not exactly a hug, but something very close. You could even hear his heartbeat with one of your ears being pressed onto his chest.

“Where did you go?” Seemed to be calmed down by holding you, AG asked again with a softer and lower voice, “I thought…” he didn’t finish the sentence, but somehow you felt like you could understand his unspoken words. Then you noticed that he was still panting, and hot as hell in the weather of early December. Somehow this situation reminded you of when you first met him: he was sweating heavily in a dark leather jacket under the August sun, and yet you wanted to be snuggled by him ever after the first sight.

“Um, AG, calm down, okay?” you struggled a little to regain your balance in his arms, tried your best to tell yourself that he was unaware of what it meant by hugging someone like this, though a part of you kept screaming within you for his words, “I’m sorry if I made you worried. I was too nervous about giving you a great birthday surprise and I spent days on planning it before I could notice the time… See, I didn’t run away, here’s the surprise basket I prepared for you.” You took a glance of his face and was relieved by the fact that his chill side gradually returned.

“Well, that was surely a surprise at least.” AG sounded like he was trying to make a joke on his blunder, but his refusal of letting you go suggested the other way, and you couldn’t stop admiring how strong he was for being able to hold you with one hand and grab the basket with the other, and opened it.

It was at that moment, you remembered that stupid love letter you forgot to hide, but it was too late. Someone intentionally placed it on the top of everything else, and AG definitely noticed it by the first sight, so he picked it up and opened it with one hand.

And he read it.

Silence persisted for quite a long time, when you kept praying that he would take it as a joke and laugh it off instead of turning you down directly. But AG remained silent and did not put you down even after he finished reading that stupid letter for a long time, and your anxiety made it difficult for you to wait any longer, so you lifted your head to see what’s going on, while unconsciously praying for anything other than the worst reaction.

To your surprise, he was smiling at you, what a striking image that stole your heart and attention on site.

“So… I was actually confused about my own feelings before,” somehow the remaining part of your brain was functioning and allowed you to understand what he said, “I’m glad to know that I was not the only one among us two who wants to stay with the other one forever.”

“Gkahsdhoqiwanskcbhajsdkxnalksfchjzxb????” too much information had flown through your already exhausted brain, and you could speak nothing but nonsense as a response. Giving up the chance to speak out, you clinged onto his shoulder and hid your face by his neck, hearing him laughing at your decision to hide.

It took you sometime to retain your courage and reach out to hug him back, or in fact try to teach him how to hug a human being softly: “Ahem, AG, I guess… you know I like you more than as a friend now, right?”

“Agito.”

“What?”

“You can call me Agito, that’s my real name.” Your crush smiled at you when he quickly picked up the tips about how to hug someone special to him, “Since we are about to start a closer relationship, I think it’s important for me to be more honest to you.”

You knew you were blushing as if all your blood was flowing to your face, and so you mumbled: “Oh my… Agito… this is the best day of my life.”

“And the same for me.” Agito put the letter into a hidden pocket of his biker jacket before carefully putting you onto his motorbike with the basket of foods and drinks in his other hand, “Now, (Y/N), shall we continue the celebration?”

\----------------

That day, Kanoh Agito had received more than one surprise for his birthday, and it might be the first time he started to enjoy celebrating his own birth, even if he still had no clue about his origin.

\----------------

I am glad to have you come into my life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, technically it's still December 2nd where I am currently living in, so happy birthday Agito! I wrote this overnight, guess the logics are dead anyway (yep, I ignored many details).
> 
> 生日快乐，咢，我最喜欢你了，你是最强的！
> 
> （改来改去放弃了，和最喜欢的角色告白的时候我就会词穷，这奇怪吗？）
> 
> 以及别问为什么咢的胸是硬的，问就是下意识用“不坏”了（doge）


	7. Spoil (Liu Dongcheng x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spoil or be spoiled, it's a good question. Maybe none of you were mature enough to say you do not desired to be spoiled by loved ones.

“Hey (Y/N)! Let’s go and play the game! You have the time right?” Liu Dongcheng looked excited when he rushed into the room where you were taking a break.

“Ok.” You nodded and smiled when he grabbed your arm, took you to buy all the necessities he claimed to be must-have for a game night. You simply let him make all the decisions, not that you didn’t care about what he was about to do, but you couldn’t reject him. Everyday you found yourself more into the game of spoiling him, for he was the one you could never say no to.

In fact, you liked him so much you felt like you could do anything for him. Playing a newly released horror game that you were afraid of was nothing compared to being forgotten by this busy young man. Speaking of which, it seemed like his other friends or coworkers in that Purgatory did not have the time tonight to hang out with you two, so… there would be only two of you hanging out in his apartment, what an exciting news.

Or maybe it was somehow too exciting to a point you couldn’t handle.

In fact, even if it meant a chance to stick on Dongcheng, you still couldn’t handle this combination of ghost, illusion, thriller, blood, and violence. Besides, in what name could you go and stick on him? The last time you tried turned into a nightmare when he quickly moved away, in front of his friends. Well, that was not very embarrassing since none of them thought of it as something other than an accident, but you were the one who nearly fell down when he turned away, and that moment definitely burnt your courage out.

Thinking of this, you decided to move a little further from your dear man and put some more cushions around him so he has more space to move and throw his controller on. Oh, the snacks were running out, maybe you should check the fridge and bring some more back before he gets hungry… ok you were just looking for an excuse to stay away from the screen and the horrifying things in it, and you knew that you needed a chance to calm yourself down before you lose your control and embarrass yourself once again. It would be nice if you could just go and snuggle with him to stop him from playing it and give you all his attention, but that’s impossible.

It would be better to keep your distance before being kicked out of his life.

“(Y/N)? Where are you going?” Suddenly, Dongcheng’s voice came from behind, he sounded like he was annoyed by your leaving attempt, “Come back, we still have a long way to go in this game. (Y/N)?”

“Oh, ok, just, let me go and get some more chips…” you didn’t want to stay in the room because of the game, but neither did you want to deny his invitation, “ um, I will be back in a few minutes, you can ——”

“Don’t worry, I will wait for you,” Dongcheng grinned, “I promised you to play it together, so hurry up~”

And yet you found yourself not really mad at him and his little prank, for you loved this man, and you were the one who actually spoiled him to do so.

————————

It’s wrong to say (Y/N) was the one to blame, but Liu Dongcheng couldn’t stop wondering why they always let him decide and follow his wishes, even if they were absurd. Sometimes, he felt like they were just treating him as a spoiled child as the parent that spoiled him. But that’s not fair, how could they always treat him like someone needs care? As an adult, Liu Dongcheng knew what he really wanted: their full attention and love, rather than that vain care for a young dependent.

Uh, do they think I am still a child? Dongcheng felt that frustration and anxiety slowly grew inside him, when Nicolas just happened to text him about his “date” with (Y/N), trash talking as usual about Dongcheng’s “predictable failure as a baby” and boasting about his own capacity over “getting the one laid as he wants”, which definitely triggered something negative inside Dongcheng.

“Don’t you ever try that…”

“Whoa Liu, what’re you thinking? I’m not interested in (Y/N), they’re not my type, unless… they asked me out first——” he was definitely snickering when he said it.

“Fxxx off!” Dongcheng was definitely pissed off by Nicolas’ terrible sense of humor, and secretly also his own insecurity. He threw his phone away onto the couch, laid back onto the pile of cushions, with all those thoughts about (Y/N) gradually emerging in his brain.

He thought he could scare them to make them get any closer to him whenever the game showed some scenes of jump scare, and of course they were mature enough to ignore that childish trick, even though they hated this kind of game for that. And now, they left with an excuse, seemed like not willing to stay here for the game nor him. Something was wrong, he did it wrong.

The level of frustration went even higher when Dongcheng realized that (Y/N) still hadn’t come back from the kitchen, which wasn’t that far from the living room. Great, they must have heard it and thought him the spoiled kid needed more space for himself… or did they agree with Nicolas about who they prefer to hang out with?

He couldn’t bear that any more.

————————

You heard Dongcheng yelling at his phone and thought it might be better to leave him some space, so you waited a little while before heading back with snacks and drinks in your both hands. He was probably still angry about Nicolas, though you had no idea what they talked about over the phone. 

But the living room was too quiet, even the game was muted. What happened to him?

You just had the time to place down the foods you brought back before Dongcheng suddenly jumped out of the pile of cushions and dragged you in.

Too close, you could only think about this when being forced to lay beneath him. In fact, his face was probably only a few centimeters away from yours, close enough to have his temperature radiated on you.

“...Dongcheng? What hap——” your unfinished sentence was muted and chewed down with an aggressive kiss that almost became a bite on your lips.

He looked so sad and anxious when he finished, you didn’t even remember to react. It was not the usual him, something was wrong, but before that, did he just kiss you? Blood rushed into your head and made you blushed, with a blocked mind that couldn’t think about anything other than that kiss, or bite.

“What, not even a word?” You could feel him gripping your wrists, pressed you down in the cushions, “Am I so childish that nothing about me deserves to be treated seriously? Oh, let me guess, you think that I’m having fun by performing a jump scare myself and accidentally hit your lips with mine, huh? No! I know what it means by kissing, and I mean it when I do it. (Y/N), listen, stop treating me like a kid. I’m a man and I want you, that’s it. Do you understand?”

The moment of truth came in an unexpected way, stunning to you. He was really spoiled by you, but you like it. His hair was loose from his little ponytail, some draped on your face. Itchy, but not annoying, just like him.

You were still held so it took you some strength to lift yourself up a bit, just enough to reach his lips. You gently pressed a kiss on his lips, despite the bite mark he gave you made it taste slightly like metal. For the first time ever, you saw him blushing while still panting heavily from the emotional reveal, and you couldn’t help but smiled: “I have never thought of treating you like a kid, but… I do love spoiling you because I cannot say no to you----”

Dongcheng stopped you from speaking out again with a tight hug and a long kiss, which exhausted most of the oxygen in your lungs, so he could take the chance to speak before you: “Alright, (Y/N), if that’s case, then…” his face became redder, and same for you, “Let, let me show you how to spoil someone! Prepare to be spoiled by your boyfriend from now on!”

Such an adorable announcement, you thought, he was definitely spoiled like an innocent and insecure child, but that part of him was as attractive as his mature and confident part being a genius fighter, and you loved all of them. The fear of being rejected was already erased by his words and kisses, so maybe there was only one thing left.

“Please, don’t bite.”

“Can’t promise that.” You heard him murmur so when he released your wrists and embraced you gently, together you two sinked into the bottom of the cushions on the carpet, snuggled with each other to enjoy the peaceful moment as new lovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think... I was a little off the topic because I still cannot imagine how this young man would spoil his partner, or is it just I want to spoil him as a younger brother, even if he could be about the same age as me?


	8. Holding hands (Albert "The Falcon" Lee x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A visit to the zoo with your crush, what a lovely day. And he prepared a small surprise for you, even better, isn't it?

It’s a surprise to you that Albert would ask you out. You knew he was hard to find ever since he started to get interested in some sort of Japanese culture and began to practice it. You could never understand how and why he had such an unusual craze towards Ninja culture, but there’s no way you could stand against it, for it’s his hobby, and you found it acceptable as long as he who you adored liked it. Whatever he liked, you liked, so you felt a little closer to him, mentally.

Yes, yes, you knew you acted like a pervert by trying to duplicate his hobbies, but you had no other idea about how to get closer to him, or otherwise you might have already confessed, and being rejected, when you first saw him performing magic show on the stage. You did not get the chance to tell him about your feelings, even when your friends dragged you to the backstage to greet him and say thank you for his performance, nor did you make it when you realized that your parents knew his parents and wanted to pair you two up. You were too timid.

“(Y/N), ahem, I heard that you do like animals, and I happened to have two 4-park tickets of the Singapore Zoo...” and then you remembered that you were still sitting at the table with Albert, who claimed that he just came home for a vacation, “so… what do you think? Do you have time this coming Saturday?”

You wished you could dare to ask him about his new job, and the time he spent in Japan. Did he find the master of ninja he always wanted to meet? How was his practice of ninja skills going? But how could you ask those questions, when nobody had actually told you anything about why he quit his mysterious job in China and went to Japan, and absolutely nobody told you about his crush on Ninja culture. In fact, even yourself was surprised by your talent in collecting information, and so you had to be careful about the words spoken out of your own mouth in order to hide the fact that you might have known too much.

With that in your mind, you carefully sorted out the words for response, tried your best to hold back your excitement, which was usually described as “childish” by your older brothers: “Y—Yes! I like animals! I will be happy to join the tour!” Or maybe you were too focused on preserving your secret before controlling yourself, and you could only notice that after you let those words slip out of your lips. How embarrassing, he must have found you silly and childish, just like your older brother would say.

“That’s great to know!” to your surprise, Albert looked quite excited to you even with his sunglasses on, “Shall we meet on Saturday then?” He was blushing and smiling brightly, which would make you forget everything else, and you didn’t remember anything else other than nodding and agreeing all his suggestions while putting all your efforts onto suppressing your face from blushing before you two finally said goodbye in front of your residence.

And then you remembered that you had never told him that you liked zoos or animals before, where did he learn that?

—————————

After arriving at his apartment, Falcon, or Albert Lee, realized that he might be acting too urgent when asking (Y/N) out, which might be creepy and scary to his timid friend, and crush. But in what other ways could he obtain enough information about their preferences and hobbies without bothering them or people around them other than using his Ninja skills and the blackmarket? He couldn’t bother their older brother, who would definitely spread out the words and attract unwanted attention: they never liked each other anyway, there’s no way Falcon would let him ruin this date.

Yes, he considered that as a date instead of a normal hangout event between two friends, and had big plans for the day. As both a magician and a (self-identified) ninja, Albert “Falcon” Lee, or the “The Roving Death”, was quite confident about the rationality and successability of his plan.

————————

It felt marvelous to tour the zoo with your crush, even though he didn’t speak much during the whole trip. The rainforest exhibition and wildlife tour was exciting as they were advertised on the website, and even better when Albert joined you in visiting the penguin playground and watched them playing in the outdoor facilities together. Of course there were other tourists around, but in your mind they were more like miles away, and Albert was the only one standing next to you, listening to your somehow meaningless comments towards the adorable creatures running around the playground, smiling in an undeniably attractive way. Even the Ninja pose he insisted on holding seemed to be more adorable than usual: you could hardly ignore it when he held it all the time, it’s just like a barrier between you and him, marking out the gap between you two. You wanted to shake off the thought of him just needing someone to be in his company and come to visit the zoo so he didn’t look stood out in the crowd, but maybe that is the truth, given that there’s always quite a distance between you two.

The thought of that you were no different from other friends of his made you feel bad, and you almost forgot that you were going to visit the Lory Loft, one of your favorite places in Jurong Bird Park. The keepers there handed you cups of dry mix, honey and water to feed the colourful, excited lories flying around, and the cute birds were so excited that you found it hard to hold the cups with just your two hands.

And that’s when Albert reached out to help, as he stood behind you when holding your hands, naturally embracing you from behind at the same time. Maybe you heard him commenting on how excited those little birds looked like, but you could not pay any more attention to that, as your heart was pumping in an insane speed because of how close you two were. You could feel blood flowing to your face, making it blushing and hot without a touch. You did not dare to turn around and talk to him, as he seemed not minded to stand like this.

Besides, you were secretly enjoying the fact that people around you might have thought you two were a dating couple.

————————

Things were out of control, Falcon thought so when he embraced (Y/N) from behind by coincidence. He did not plan this, which was far from the rational, gradual approach he developed that included magic tricks he knew (Y/N) would love to see again: after all, it was their smile and bright eyes that attracted him when they first met on one of his magic shows. Anything other than that was ignored by his rationality because they were the only one he could pay attention to.

Which made his accidental and impulsive actions even more intolerable because it might be annoying to them, and thus scared them away, when he wanted them to stay. The good news was that they did not resist him, probably because one of the keepers smiled and complimented them as a sweet couple? Anyway, Falcon thought, it’s necessary to make some adjustments in the plan now, even if that means to take advantage of (Y/N) and their kindness. It took him much of his strength and even some ninja techniques to calm himself down from the impulse of aggressively embracing them with his both arms.

Until he saw their blushing ears.

————————

You were not dared to turn around and look at him with such a blushing face, so you did you best to look straightforward on your way to the next section of the park to see the predators, when he was walking calmly next to you, slowing down his pace for you. Albert was such a quiet sweetheart, you found yourself yet again to feel jealous about ninja culture when you glanced at his pose, when would all his attention be on you?

Your small dream came true very soon as you arrived at the show. Some other guests clearly had no idea about how to handle the falcon calmly landing on their arm, and it started to nervously move around, seemingly trying to find a safe place to land, when it almost bump into you.

Albert quickly grabbed your arm and shielded you with his own body. He seemed to be annoyed by the guest who was still struggling, even if that well-trained poor bird on their arm was already somehow scolded by its worrying trainer.

Maybe you should also appear to be annoyed by that accident, but your full attention was on your hand held in his. His fingernails hidden in the gloves were surprisingly sharp, but that’s not important.

Even your talent of collecting and analyzing information could not help you to figure out what to do now, should you pull out your hand? He would definitely find it awkward soon as he realized what he had done. It must be his instinctive reaction to protect you, thanks to the ninja training, you thought so and swallowed your wonder about why he did it. Believing in a false statement might be safer than asking out the wrong question and putting both of you into an embarrassing situation that would threaten your friendship, and you were never hard to convince.

But Albert didn’t let go of your hand, as he guided you out of that chaos and departed to the next area. Whenever you grabbed your courage and tried to ask him about the still-holding hands, he would magically find out something to disrupt you, sometimes it’s snacks, sometimes it’s an adorable limited-edition souvenir. And you found it not annoying, as you saw his blushing face hidden behind those sunglasses.

So there was something your parents were right about you two, you thought so as he took you to a restaurant. Wait, when did you two leave the park?

And he presented you a single rose, blossomed in front of your very eyes.

There was a ring in it.

The whole situation soon became overwhelming to you, as you only remembered that you said “yes” to him without asking a single question in response.

And you accepted the ring.

Then a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I failed to find a good bgm when writing this piece, and I will blame any potential plainness onto that (and the stressful winter vacation). The story ended up become quite different from the original plan, but at least you two are together now. There's probably no logic at the end of this story, sorry about that.
> 
> And yes, I did use some information I gathered about the Singapore Zoo and its parks, but most of the things in this story were made up by my poor imagination, please forgive me if I wrote something overly unrealistic.


	9. Mask (Takayama Minoru x female reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a vague image in your mind about your crush without his mask, but how exactly does he look like without that annoying piece? Speaking of which, why did you start to think about this man after years of self-suppression? Maybe it's finally time to figure that out, or at least to make it clear about your relationship with him, how tiring, and exciting.

In your memory, you had never seen your crush without that heavy mask, at least not when you met him and other bodyguards. So naturally you started to wonder: what’s beneath that mask? Nobody other than J seemed to be a reliable and approachable source of information, only if you could go and ask…

And you couldn’t.

What a frustrating situation, you sat next to your desk and sighed that there’s no reason you could simply go and ask them about this kind of question. After all, you were clearly in no position to ask that kind of question, even if you knew each other since you were a kid, and they were still young and newly employed bodyguards. In fact, as the youngest daughter of your filthy rich family, you got to know them because your parents and the networks behind them introduced you and your older brothers to Katahara Metsudo and his private army, the bodyguards. You did remember that you loved to run around the mansion and try to make the bodyguards play with you, especially if you found Takayama Minoru and J.

Now thinking about it, the bodyguards were probably asked to be nice to you as the kid of their master’s important guests, even if that meant that they needed to put their works aside and play childish games with a little girl like you, but hanging out with them was definitely one part of the best memories you had. You could never get along with your older brothers, the elites your parents wanted. They were raised as the planned inheritors of companies owned by your parents’ families, while you were just an accident and extra, and you had more freedom and fun when playing with the bodyguards, especially Takayama Minoru, then J, and then some other older bodyguards who were probably retired by the time you grew up.

You remembered that you even tried to make your parents agree to adopt one or two of them as adopted sons of your family, so you could have an older brother that would like to take care of you instead of asking you to stay away from disturbing them. It was of course impractical, as your parents simply replied that you already had two.

Anyway, you left home and started your own career after graduating from the university and paid off your debts, as the only one of your family working outside the so-called family business, though you could not visit the mansion or the friendly bodyguards frequently because of that. But still, you went through your own memory again and determined that you had never seen Minoru without his mask, what’s him hiding? A giant scar? For some reason, you just knew it couldn’t because he was too ugly.

When you finally gathered your courage and reached out to J (yes, you remained in contact with many of the bodyguards or former bodyguards even after you grew up) over the phone, you could hear him laughing out: “(Y/N), what kind of question is that? Seriously, I don’t think I am the one to answer that question, why don’t you just go and ask him about it?”

“But I…” how could you explain to him that you had the wonder from nowhere? How could you tell anyone that your feelings for this man specifically changed at some point during your chaotic adolescence? How could you ever tell the truth, when the man you had a crush on seemed to always see you as a kid, like J and other bodyguards did?

“You know, he is actually sitting next to me now, want me to give him the phone?”

“Wait, what, NO! Absolutely no! Please… J, I haven’t talked to Takayama for, like, years, I can't, it will definitely be super awkward!” and you had no idea nor courage to start a conversation with him under this kind of situation, which made you weirdly panicked and started to scream, “Seriously, I won’t even make this call if I had the gut to ask him by myself. You know me, J, I, I can’t, not to say I’m afraid of him now, but…”

J probably was trying to hold back his laugh, as you heard those strange noises from the phone, and it took him a while to reply: “Ahem! I mean (snickers), why did you stop talking to Takayama? To my memory, you suddenly stopped talking to him, what happened? (snickers) He wasn’t the type of actively reaching out so you two basically stopped talking to each other soon after that…”

“Umm… Well, I don’t remember that either. I thought it was because we both became busier?” Of course you remembered that, it was the first time you realized that you wanted Takayama Minoru as more than just an older brother of yours, and the young teenager you were shocked by your own thoughts. You were so afraid of your own weird thoughts and insanely accelerated heartbeats that you decided to keep a little distance between you two for “safety”, which ended up to be this awkward situation you had, and yet again you could never tell anyone, not even some of your closest friends.

“Hmm, you didn’t cut the contact with me but him? I thought I am also busy as a captain now… Hey, how about we all meet up and spend some time together as a group? That should surely be helpful in reuniting you two, right?”

“Reuniting? Why does that sound strange when you say it…”

“Oh, ok, sorry, I need to go, no worry (Y/N), just wait for my message then! Don’t worry, I’m sure Takayama isn’t upset about that, he hasn’t changed much these years. Bye kiddo!” J said so before he hung up the phone, leaving you and your words of refusal aside. Minutes later, you received a message from him about the possible dates and places to go. For some reason, instead of finding an excuse, you checked your schedule and replied with your available time and preferred activities, which was soon used to determine when and where to meet.

Just take it as another casual event, you told yourself, spend some time with your old friends and have fun, and your crush just happened to be there so you can naturally start to talk to him again… Even so, you had to admit that you started to plan way ahead before that day about what to put on for a most impressive yet natural look.

If only you knew no one other than your crush was there waiting for you.

\----------------

Takayama Minoru found it hard to not try to eavesdrop on J’s conversation with (Y/N) over the phone when he realized that little girl was indeed closer to his friend and colleagues while keeping away from him. Sure he wasn’t jealous about that, Minoru thought, it was just a surprise to him that she would like to keep in contact with at least some of them. After all, her fight with her parents and older brothers and that vow of never using their resources was quite famous, and he thought it also meant that she cut her contacts with the bodyguards… but it seemed like she didn’t, or at least selectively didn’t.

Minoru took another sip of his whiskey when he saw J grinned at him and quietly asked the bartender if he could open the speaker, for which the latter nodded since there were only three of them in the bar. And then, after years of not speaking to each other, intentionally or not, Minoru finally heard her voice again. And surprisingly to him, it was about him.

This casual night of drinking at a bar soon became somewhat strange because of her conversation with J, who was trying his best to hold back a laugh as Minoru could see. Thankfully, the bartender was a nice gentleman and did not interrupt, if he wasn’t smiling when doing the cleaning work. It was an absurd situation, and yet Minoru couldn’t deny that he felt frustrated and even sad when she yelled “Absolutely no!” in the phone about talking to him.

He tried to pat on his old friend’s shoulder and warn him to stop, but the latter refused. J grinned even more while continuing to talk and tease both him and her. Soon she was convinced to come and hang out with them later, and the process was so quick that Minoru had to admit that he felt jealous about how close they were this time.

Strange, he thought, why should I? Am I missing that little girl now?

“Hahaha… Takayama, I really hope you can take a look at your own face now, are you jealous?” J laughed so hard, he almost lost control over his hands and dropped his phone, “Come on, just tell me, we know each other for years, don’t we?”

This man was too noisy, Minoru raised an eyebrow, but like he said, we knew each other for so long that I know exactly what could stop him: “I thought you are worrying more about your, let’s say, ‘date’ with your ‘friend’. Isn’t that what made you so nervous that you need a drink?”

It was really effective, as expected, while J sighed and rubbed his face: “Yes, I am worrying about that, sorry about teasing you two.”

“No worry… wait, what?” Minoru felt his grin behind the mask frozen by J’s words, and his heart pumped faster for seemingly no reason. Was it the alcohol? He knew he wasn’t young any more, but such a small amount shouldn’t be a problem.

“You and (Y/N), you two haven’t spoken to each other for years, but before that, if my memory is right, you two were the closest… Oh wait, that feels like really a long time ago.” J looked at his phone and started a new message, “If none of us know or remember what happened at that time, why don’t you ask her about this?” J said so when he showed Minoru the message, “Here, just write down when you have time and where you want to go, I think she won’t be able to guess out who edited the message.”

So he typed in the information, and soon they received a reply from her.

“OK! That’s it! Now it’s up to you.” J took away his own phone and smiled, “Good luck on your ‘date’ then.”

“Same to you.” Minoru nodded.

They toasted each other with an unspoken agreement.

“Seriously, Takayama, how can you drink with your mask on?”

“... That’s a secret.”

\----------------

Standing in front of your crush, Takayama Minoru, in carefully planned dress and makeup, you felt awkward and excited at the same time.

You didn’t have the time or heart to try to reach out to others, especially J, and question them about their absence. All because of him, your dear crush, and you needed to struggle to hide that secret, along with your silly smile: “... Hey, Mr. Takayama.” What a great start.

And then he leaned forward to you, just like when you were still a child and he was young, even that mask didn’t change much: “Hi, (Y/N).” You could almost imagine that helpless smile hidden beneath his mask, even though you had no memory of that part of his face.

That was enough to make you scream inside with excitement, and you struggled to act calmly by asking him if he was fine with only hanging out with you, to which he nodded. And frankly speaking, your heart pumped even faster when you walked alongside him. You could feel your own face blushing simply because he was there next to you, even if you two were just aimlessly wandering around in the park.

Or maybe you had wandered for too long. It gradually became a tourture in some ways, as you heard him sighed in a suppressed way, and you panicked for that: “Oh, um, Mr. Takayama!? What, um, what’s wrong?” Was it too boring to hang out with a woman that’s way younger than you? You hesitated to ask that question.

“No,” your crush said so when he sighed again, “(Y/N), I was just wondering if you were disappointed to see only me here. After all, we are probably just a little closer than strangers now, given that you even started to call me ‘Mr. Takayama’ instead of ‘brother Minoru’.”

“No way! Ahem! I mean… Wait, you’re okay with me calling you like that? I thought you hated it…”

“Why should I? It’s an honor to be needed by you.” you could see his smiling eyes, and that alone was enough to make you completely blush, “Oh, I mean… (Y/N)? Are you okay?” And he completely misunderstood your expression, such a wonderful pity, but at least you got the chance to be even closer to him, as you trembled in unspeakable excitement.

\----------------

Great, she was so afraid of him that she couldn’t move, Minoru found it hard to not feel frustrated about the situation, who would know a glance of his face would scare her for so many years, even after she forgot that view? The sense of regret and frustration had haunted him for years, ever since that day she stopped talking to him but remained the same to others, and worsened as she decided to leave her own family and cut most of their connections. Since when did he start to see her as more than just a kid? Was it when she turned around? Minoru had long given up on figuring out the change in his mind, it’s not a big deal and won’t change the situation anyway. Sometimes, Minoru wished that he had grabbed and kept her by his side when she tried to run away, but that’s impractical and would only frighten her even more, so he slowly learned to give up and watch her grow up in distance.

Yet that was changed when she suddenly called J because of some sort of curiosity over his face. Useless hope was ignited again in his chest before being extinguished by the cruel reality.

Face the truth, Takayama Minoru, he told himself, she acted strange because you two are no longer friends or anything else other than familiar strangers.

And so he decided to help her end this bizarre situation.

“(Y/N)... Sorry about being so sudden, but I heard that you are curious about my face, right?”

\----------------

Takayama Minoru, your dear and secret crush, suddenly took off his mask. Under the mask, you saw abnormal openings on both sides of his mouth that formed an extended grin, barely stitched to keep his mouth in form, but you didn’t find this view disturbing or frightening by any chance. It looked terribly familiar, even his helpless smile.

Now you remembered what changed your mind about him, and the same feeling you had more than a decade ago swell in your heart again: sorrowness and compassion, soon pressed down by that sour bitterness. How ironic, you were scared away from him by your own thoughts and true heart, which in turn pushed you back to him. You loved him, more than you could tell. You could feel the tears cumulated in your eyes were about to fall out, so you blinked, and blinked again, to suppress them. Barely made it to not cry out in front of him in the public, you heard yourself speaking with shivering lips: “Does that still hurt?”

Seemed to be surprised by your reactions, he raised an eyebrow: “No, not at all… I thought you would be…”

“I won’t make the same mistake twice,” you heard yourself saying, slowly and clearly, “now that I remembered. Mr. Takayama, Takayama… no, Minoru,” you reached out to his big hands as your rationality died long ago, along with your pretence, “this time, I won’t let it go.”

His facial expression changed as you made your confession. First it was refrained, but slowly there appeared signs of surprise and confusion, and ended up to be, somehow, ecstasy.

“You said so.”

“Does, does that mean, you, you… I mean, Minoru, can I call you like that? Uhm, oh, may, may I ask you out for a date? As, if you are fine with that, as your… girlfriend…” Your rationality definitely died when you said those thoughtless words, but you said it anyway.

Minoru had one of his eyebrow remained raised even after you said such stupid words, with a teasing smile on his face, he opened his mouth again: “Hmm, there’s no way I would say no to any of that after seeing you acting so cute.” he gently guided you into his arms, pressed your head near his chest to hear his heartbeat and feel his body temperature, “No worry, I’m here and I won’t go anywhere,” you could feel him lifting you up easily like years ago, “now, why don’t you come closer, and give your new boyfriend a kiss?”

As if you had any other choice, you thought so when you kissed his extended grin and lips softly with a blushing face, but at least there is no longer any mask either on him or you now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I... writing more and more every time? Anyway, as the top 2 on my list of favorite characters, I'm sure huge biases were imposed in this chapter for Takayama Minoru. By the way, I have yet again used old settings I had for previous posts, and I had basically included everything you need to know into this chapter... Just, consider it as a prologue of the chapter I wrote before, if you know which one I mean.
> 
> By the way, I bet you have found the connection between this chapter and the chapter for J, good luck to both men on winning their love ( = v = )


	10. In the Rain (Nicolas Le Banner x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems like you and Nicolas always have something to do together when it's raining outside, is that a coincidence? You always thought you prefer to focus on your career, until you met him... and continued to focus on your career, with a significant percentage of your mind constantly distracted because of him. Maybe drinking isn't a good way for you to sustain your relationship, no matter what kind.

You met him on a rainy day.

You were thinking about your argument with your boss-of-the-time, who put all responsibilities on you and yet wanted to take all the honor of your success. Him, and his followers, had definitely touched your nerve, but it seemed like you were deemed to be the scapegoat for all things that could go wrong...

“Ouch!” You bumped into someone before you remember that you were still walking on the street, “I’m sorry… oh.” Oh, what a handsome and eye-catching man, though he had a weird taste in fashion indeed.

And he was looking at you with a lazy smile, having his umbrella tilted for yours: “No worry, but…” you could feel his eyes stay on your face for quite a while, “you look like someone needs a drink and someone to talk to, may I join you for a small trip to the bar?”

“It’s still daytime…” you heard yourself trying to find an excuse, unwillingly.

“But it will be night soon,” he took a look at the sky and shrugged, “or let’s say it’s already night time. See, it’s getting sooner or later. May I have the pleasure?” What an innocent fake smile, but it looked good on him, and that’s enough to convince you.

It’s weird and abrupt, but you agreed, and frankly speaking, that was quite a good time. You got to know each other a little more after a few shots, and you seemed to share some mutual hobbies, if he was telling the truth. You knew he was probably planning on taking you out, but for some reason, you just feel that one-night stand was a bad idea… so you turned him down, but promised to stay in contact in the future, as you really liked talking to him. And that’s how you started your somewhat strange relationship with him.

You liked it, for you could constantly see him without feeling awkward. Frankly speaking, he was your secret oasis, and more than that. It was him who gave you the courage to try and take over the seat of your former boss, and more.

————————

Nicolas felt frustrated for the first time in… let’s say, at least the past decade, all because of his encounter with (Y/N). Yes, it was impulsive at first when he just saw their face, but it changed as he slowly learned their personality. Of course, it would be nice if he could spend the night with them on the day they met, but he had to admit that he enjoyed all the time they spent together after that rainy day. The more time they spent together, the more he knew he wanted them.

And he was aware that his patience was running out.

“Hahahahahaha… And you said you can always get whoever you want, huh? The joke is not on me this time, Nicolas.” Liu Dongcheng laughed wildly without paying any attention to Nicolas’ reaction, “Aw, don’t look at me like that, YOU started all of these! Of course you will need to put more effort in it.” Dongcheng looked so serious as if he wasn’t teasing Nicolas for revenge, “Well, I can’t help you, my partner is a sweetheart and I didn’t start our relationship with any pick-up line…”

Nicolas couldn’t help but rolled his eyes at that man who was still showing off his dear caring partner, while the other two at the table, Wangfang and Naidan, were seemingly snickering in their own ways. It was more than clear that these men wouldn’t be helpful to his “plan”, and neither would the older guys who seemed like they never even thought about dating someone. Nicolas sincerely regretted that he believed in consulting with his friends would be helpful.

Great, he thought frustratedly, I’m on my own after all. Maybe I should just go straightforward like I always did before… but could it work with them? Nicolas tried to recall how he got those ones laid, only to realize that he couldn't do the same to (Y/N), for those tricks would be detrimental to their relationship in the long run, and more importantly, he had little idea about their hobbies and preferences outside the bars in the day time.

He knew they like bee’s knees and mojito, and anything that’s not so strong or bitter for their tongue. They prefer savory foods to sweet ones, and they hated to be teased about their tastes in many ways… wait.

So after knowing each other for so long, they were just pure drinking buddies?!

Nicolas felt like he needed a drink, now.

And things soon went out of plan, if he had any.

————————

You didn’t expect to see Nicolas in the bar today. It was one of your colleagues who suggested that you should hold a party to celebrate your recent promotion and hard work, and for some reason they picked the bar you and Nicolas frequently visited together when you both felt like you needed a drink and someone to talk to, just like what he said to you on the first day you met him.

Coincidentally or not, today is also a rainy day, and he got in when it was getting dark.

“Hi, (Y/N).” He sounded normal, yet you felt even more nervous.

“... Hey, Nicolas.” Strange, why would you feel diffident when you did nothing? Was it because you were partying and drinking without him? Was it because you were laughing with others? Was it… you had no idea, or maybe you were too aware of the reason, but you were not sure.

“Seems like you are enjoying the night without me… I feel abandoned now, may I join you?”

“Oh! Um…”

“OF COURSE! Come here and grab a drink, mister! Please don’t mind me if I borrow (Y/N) now…” suddenly, your close friend appeared, made the decision for you and dragged you to a corner, “Old pal! You never told me you know someone this hot! Aren’t we best friends anymore?”

“What, no, hey, don’t you wink at me like that! He is my——”

“Shhhhh, (Y/N), I know you for years, you didn’t look like you were seeing some ‘normal friend’ just now.” Your close friend grinned and pointed at Nicolas from a far, “Seriously, he might be taken anytime from now if you leave him alone there, I won’t waste time if I am you.” she winked at you again before shoving you towards him, “Good luck, old pal, you will need it.”

She pushed you so hard, you lost your balance and almost fell on Nicolas, who happened to be walking towards you: “Whoa (Y/N), you really need to be more careful,” he was teasing you, you knew it, “this is the second time you run into my arms, if you do it one more time, I will take it the other way.”

“Nicolas…” for one moment, you thought about what did he mean by “the other way”, but soon you left it behind, “dude, don’t be like this, use your pick-up lines on those of your type, okay?” You probably said something wrong, as his smile faded a little.

“Pick-up? Me? (Y/N), mon amour, don’t judge me like that, I’ve repented a long time ago.”

“Huh? Is that so? My friend, I bet you were trying to hook up with one of my coworkers just now, I understand that,” you tried to suppress that weird twisted feeling in your chest, considering you didn’t know French, “she is really hot and attractive, even I sometimes will… wait, Nicolas, what are you…?”

“Let me show you.” Nicolas finished the whole glass of liquor in his hand with a determined face before he dragged you (and your belongings) out of the bar, leaving your colleagues and their uproar behind. Seemed like your dear close friend was not the only one who found him special to you, as they were all laughing and teasing you two. Great, you thought, today is the day you will either make it or lose it, and you have to go to work tomorrow no matter what.

It’s still raining outside, but none of you had an umbrella, so Nicolas shared his jacket with you while grabbing you by your right shoulder.

“Nicolas? Dude, I’m sorry if that stupid joke made you mad,” alcohol had numbed your nerves, and you struggled to speak in an apologetic way, “I had a few shots before you come, which was totally a surprise and I was really shocked, I mean…”

“It wasn’t that, (Y/N),” Nicolas had rarely shown such a serious face in front of you, “mon amour, there were too many people.”

“They are my colleagues… ooops, sorry buddy, I should have introduced you to them first, did someone question you or something? I know some of them are quite unfriendly to new faces…”

“(Y/N), mon amour…”

“OK! I know, my friend, I’M SORRY! Is that enough?”

“... Don’t yell at me, I’m not mad at anything or anyone other than myself,” you could feel him taking a big breath with you in his arm, was that his chest muscle pressing on your back? “(Y/N), do you speak French?”

“No, but if you want to scold at me or curse something without hurting me, go ahead.” you forced yourself to speak in a joking sound, again with the feeling of something twisted up in your chest.

“Hey,” you could feel him pushing you towards his chest, “want to know what does it mean by ‘mon amour’? You got it all wrong… my love.”

“Oh… I see… WHAT!?” thanks to alcohol, it took you longer to react and calm down compared to the normal you at work, “NICOLAS, that’s…”

“I thought you knew my intention was impure when we first met,” he raised an eyebrow and continued, “I was too conscious all this time, but now I’m drunk, so I will just tell the truth: I still feel like everything is right if you are there, and I want you, personally.”

THINK, (Y/N), you screamed to yourself in your mind, don’t just stand stiff, SAY something before… screw it.

“What, did a cat eat your tongue just now?” Nicolas sounded quite annoying if he didn’t grip your shoulder with such a strength, “Don’t you agree with your friends and colleagues there that I’m super hot? (Y/N)? Please, mon amour, pick me up.”

“Oh, um, the rain just stopped.”

“... is that a no? (Y/N), please give me a chance, mon amour...”

You kissed him under the moon and stars, despite there were people around.

“Is that clear to you? Oh!” you tried your best to pretend calm, and you failed because he embraced you, pressed you against his surprisingly muscular body.

“(Y/N) …” that was indeed a face you had never seen before, “you started it… now, your place or my place?” and you could hear his teeth gritting.

“... I need to go to work tomorrow.” you tried to stay in charge with an angry voice, though your face was blushing for something else.

“Oh sure you need to, your place then.” Nicolas didn’t even give a fig of your void sham, as he grinned and started to kiss you again and again, “And please, let me know more about you before you head to work, I will then tell you more about myself in return, (whisper at your ear) as a reward.”

“... Fine.”

And you soon learned about who was actually in charge among you two, which he made you remember deeply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make Nicolas suffer for boasting about his "skills" in chapter 7, as he now faces someone who seemingly prioritized work before getting to know more about him... and I think I failed. This piece is kind of off the track in the end.
> 
> Anyway, he made it to the confession, congratulations to Monsieur Banner (insincere).  
> 看来我是真的不喜欢尼古拉，一点都写不出暗恋的感觉，我废了。但是急刹车真好玩，下次还敢。


	11. Simp (Jose Kanzaki x female reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You feel like you could do anything for him, and so you did, even if you felt jealous and uncomfortable about what he seemed to be focusing on. Ideally, you could make him happy by complying with his preference, but... is it so?

To you, Jose Kanzaki is someone you could never say no to. Like now, he just asked you to go grab a drink with him on your precious day off, and you immediately decided to give up all your plans, for which you had in mind for weeks.

Anything would be right if with him, right? He looked so happy, it would be such a bad idea to ruin his mood at this moment, you repeatedly tried to convince yourself, as if no other thing is meaningful as drinking with him, even if that meant giving up your planned trip to the indie music store and cafe for a leisure time. Sometimes you would wonder if this man had ever learned that you were not a fan of those noisy sports bars or izakaya that were always full of people, but then you would convince yourself that it was reasonable if he didn’t know because you had never told him about this. Rather, you found it okay to sacrifice a little for he always seemed to enjoy hanging out in those places, which would make you feel happy in turn.

“So, what’s the good news you want to share?” You said so when he handed over you a drink.

“Aha! That’s my good pal!” Jose seemed to be so excited that he could hardly control his facial expression, “You know there’s going to be a huge event held by Super Japan Pro Wrestling right?” What a silly smile, but you liked it and even started to smile with him.

“Hmm, you mean the one about group competition between different pro-wrestling organizations? I think I know.” Of course you know, you tried every method you knew to get the event schedules beforehand from Kurachi and Sekibayashi that you wondered if they have figured out your plan, as they snickered each time you showed up at SJPW for a visit and met Jose “by coincidence”.

“Oh sure you know,” Jose grinned, “it’s gonna be a huge event and I will sure win each match! You will come and watch it, right? But mi amigo, I bet you don’t know this,” he suddenly dragged you closer and whispered at your ear, “don’t tell anyone yet, but we are going to invite a lot of cute girls to be the hostesses and ring girls!”

“And…?” you tried your best to not panic for how close you two were, press down the impulse of begging him to come closer, with only a small part of your rationality barely able to respond and act normal, “Jose, don’t keep me waiting if you really want to share something. Is it good news?”

“Sure it is! Oh, sorry,” realizing you were shocked by his loud voice in close distance, Jose apologized nervously while patting on your shoulder, “you know Sakaguchi Mei, right? She agreed to come and be one of the hostesses!” you could sense the excitement he barely suppressed, “I mean, I was the one who nominated her when they discussed who to invite, and, oh my, can’t believe it went so smooth!”

“Umm, oh, congratulations then?” You felt your heart suddenly drop to the bottom of your stomach and pause from pumping quickly, as you remembered that name belonged to the pro-cosplayer he liked a lot, and naturally you also paid attention to her, “Is that the good news you want to share?” You struggled to find appropriate words for an appropriate response, though your mind was frozen with nameless bitterness. There’s no way you could react normally without a drink, so you took a sip of your drink, and then a deep breath: “Are you planning on… umm…” and yet you still cannot make yourself say the words, even if you knew he would surely want to talk about it.

“Planning on what?” Jose had let you sit back before you had noticed, “Talking to her?” his face turned red as he started to giggle like an idiot, “Hah, just imagining talking to her is exciting enough! Wait, don’t you want to talk to her? I’m sure you two can be good friends!”

With him looking so happy for that moment, you couldn’t say anything in response but listening quietly, though your drunken brain could barely process just some of his words.

“... It must be a great time! Only if I could get rid of the matches as soon as possible… I don’t know, but that is just my type, I mean if you can try, ahem… Hey, (Y/N), what do you think?”

“Wh, what?”

“What do you think of her? I mean, Mei-chan is such a sweetheart, it must be great if... (Y/N)?”

You didn’t even need a mirror to know how terrible you looked. Jealousy had poisoned you, and so did alcohol. Emotions inundated you at that moment, and you could only remember that you stood up, paid for your drink and left the bar straight ahead, without saying anything to your crush. He must be confused, you thought so when you woke up after a long nap and regained your consciousness.

Was he mad at you? You were not dared to ask him about it. Besides, you couldn’t deny that you did guess his preferences by doing searches about that Sakaguchi: delicate, feminine, raunchy clothes and cutesy behaviors, which you had never tried before…

As long as it’s for gaining his attention, maybe you should.

————————

Jose felt strange when (Y/N) gave him that weird look and left the bar. Directly speaking, he was confused, but more importantly, he worried about his dear friend, and maybe more than that, (Y/N), who probably drank too much before any of them could notice. She was careless as always, Jose • also quite drunk • Kanzaki thought so when he stood up and paid his part, before heading out to find and prevent (Y/N) from walking into any danger.

After all, he did secretly pray to see her adorable blushing face after drinking. It’s hard to explain, but Jose sometimes found the appearance and personality of the cute cosplayer Sakaguchi Mei very similar to (Y/N), though the latter seldom wear those kinds of feminine clothes. She must also like her, Jose thought as he remembered seeing (Y/N) paying close attention to all events and social media posts of Sakaguchi Mei, I’m such a genius.

…………

And yet Jose was really confused when (Y/N) simply told him to “go and get his ideal one” in a sarcastic tone before going home. What did she mean by that “ideal one”? For one moment, Jose thought she had seen through his mind, but luckily (or not), she probably didn’t. Anyway, as someone who’s never good at thinking, Jose decided to take that as a kind of blessing from his introverted (?) dear (Y/N), for whom he would do his best and win all the matches, for the ideal one prize. He knew she liked strong men, as she always preferred to talk to Kurachi and Sekibayashi whenever she got the chance, maybe it’s time to prove to her that he is also strong, or even better than those old men.

Jose Kanzaki truly believed that such triumph would help him to win over his ideal woman, who made him feel something he had never felt before and fell for at the first sight. For her, Jose felt like he could give out all he had, starting with proving to her that he is the strongest.

Yet, unexpected situations she brought had severely distracted him, and he barely made it through the event.

————————

Dressed up in a new style was more challenging than you could imagine, and it got worse when there were numerous people gazing at your direction. Those high-heels and the relatively exposing dress was never your thing, not to mention the makeup. Although everyone you met that day, including both familiar faces and strangers, and even the mysterious Miss Sakaguchi herself, had praised your appearance, you were still hesitant about your look. You had planned for days beforehand, but was it enough?

Maybe not.

Jose looked so excited when Sakaguchi Mei talked to him, praising his power and abilities as a pro-wrestler as the hostess, you just couldn’t bear to stand there waiting for his attention like a joke, especially after he constantly looked at your direction with a weird face. You walked out of the main venue in frustration, wondering where you should go to avoid being teased by your friends, who snickered when they saw you just now.

“(Y/N)! Wait for me!” Whoever that was, you thought, it would be better to pretend that you didn’t hear it so you could walk away peacefully.

“(Y/N)!!” You wondered if you had an illusion because the voice behind you sounded highly similar to Jose, who was still on the ring.

“Come on! (Y/N)!” You knew those warm hands on your shoulders, they were used to pat you for so many times as a friend of Jose Kanzaki, their owner.

Oh, so it was him.

“Hey, Jose, congratulations for winning the fight.” And the chance to ask your ideal woman out.

“Oh, thank you! Wait, that’s not important… It’s important, right, but, not now… (Y/N), what you are wearing today is…”

“Terrible, I know,” you said in a low voice, “it doesn’t fit me. Sorry about showing up in an inappropriate way. I will go and change it now before too many people see it and feel disturbed, would you mind…?” You just realized that Jose had somehow used his body to block your way. He was so close that you could feel the heat and smell of his body, and you had to struggle to not try to get any closer. 

“What are you saying, (Y/N)?” for unknown reason, you saw redness spreading out from beneath that mask to his neck, “You, you look, ah, hermosa… I mean, (Y/N), whoa, this is…” he kept hesitating, which was definitely a bad sign for you, time to run away as a loser.

“I know, Jose, you don’t need to force yourself to lie on this. I know I cannot wear dresses as cute as Miss Sakaguchi... I am too tall for this style, just take it as a joke, would you mind?” You were too tired and frustrated to think about an excuse, so you begged and tried to push him for a path to freedom, but he didn’t move a bit. You had to stop because if you put more weight onto pushing him, it might end up with you losing your balance and falling onto him.

Why was he staring at you like that? Why was his face so red… oh, he had taken his mask off.

“(Y/N),” Jose’s face was unusually red with an nervous expression on it, “why would you mention Miss Sakaguchi? And, and, um, be careful, I don’t want you to sprain your ankle.” he said so with a quick glance at your high-heels, and you could promise that his face looked even redder after that, “Oh my... why did you choose such a short skirt?”

“OK FINE I KNOW I SHOULDN’T WEAR IT! I cannot find many cute dresses for my size! I just can’t!” You could feel tears accumulating in your eyes, and you tried one last time to push him with all your strength in the hope of escaping from his innocent eyes and careless comments. But the push was overly effective.

In fact, both of you lost balance, and somehow you made it to kabedon him, barely, considering the body size difference between you two. A more accurate way to describe the situation from a third-person perspective would be that you pushed Jose to stand against the wall and hugged him, with your eyes looking into his.

And he embraced you back, held you tight with those wet puppy eyes locked on you: “(Y/N)?”

Suddenly, you felt all your strength melt away in a mysterious way. All you could do was to put your head on his shoulder: “Fine, I will listen. What is it?” Underneath that calm pretence, you were secretly begging for the time to pause at this moment.

“You look amazing today. I’m not lying. You have no idea how attractive you are now. Those men… Ahem! (Y/N), I, I was wondering, do you think I am… attractive and worth a date with you, as the final winner of today’s match?”

Now that’s something you dreamed to hear him saying, and you were even more shocked when he pressed a kiss on your cheek in a tentative way.

————————

Jose would never tell anyone how nervous he was when waiting for (Y/N) to respond to his sudden invitation, nor would he ever share his feelings when she unawarely tried to kabedon him. The way she looked up to him while clinging on his chest made him feel like he could do anything for her, and that’s what he told her in turn.

There’s nothing in this world compatible with her smile, Jose thought so when he put his jacket on her and carried her in his arms, and no one shall ever think about stealing her from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This lady "you" has a body height around 165 cm (5 ft 5 in), while Jose is 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall... I mean, initially I thought about letting Jose holding her tightly in his arms, with her crying on his chest, but that's impractical.
> 
> This chapter might be adjusted in the future due to quality issues.


	12. Fools (Alan Wu x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Only a fool falls for such a person, and you are undoubtedly the fool here. Thanks to modern technology and someone's amazing talent, you didn't lose him, but how could you make your dream true by making him stay for you and you only? There are things to be done, sure, but before that, maybe you will need some alone time with him?

As the youngest child of your wealthy family, you had little responsibility but abundant resources in your hands, which was far more than enough to make you decide to have some unusual and unique “fun”. And that’s how you met Alan Wu, a man with a dangerously mysterious aura and extremely attractive outside, at least by your standards.

To be honest, when you first saw those rare dark eyes of him, for one moment you saw you two lived together happily with children, for whom you could even name each out clearly. Silly, wasn’t it? But you couldn’t let go of the feeling, as you soon realized that you had a crush on this man you merely met and talked to after seeing him for a few times by coincidence. You worked very hard in trying to figure out his preferences and gain his favor, so at least you could be a little closer to him than a familiar stranger.

Only fools would fall for someone like him, said your older siblings after they heard about you “dating” this man called Alan Wu while you were just barely spending time together, don’t do it. You remembered trying to clarify that you didn’t even reach the level of relationship to be his date, but nobody believed in you as your actual thoughts were clearly revealed by your blushed face and ears.

And then——

You did not panic when you saw your crush suddenly joined the Purgatory as a gladiator and showed up in the Kengan Association versus Purgatory Tournament.

You did not panic when he stayed in the ring to fight a young man that had the same kind of dark eyes as his.

You did not panic when you saw what that young man did to him on the big screen.

You just sat there and watched them go on to clean up that terrible mess, with a voice deep inside telling you that this was not real, you were having a nightmare. The crowd around you were either terrified or numb like you, so you sitting on your seat and dazing at the direction of the ring was not strange to anyone since you looked stunned.

Maybe you were, for it’s unbelievable that Alan would perish in such an unexpected way. From your perspective, it seems like he was torn apart by that young man with bare hands, how was that possible? This must be some kind of joke or magical trick… You felt dizzy, so you stood up and walked out to the hallway to escape that suffocating atmosphere.

You stood there for a considerable length of time, until your shivering body started to feel tired. Noises from inside the hall continued to flow into your ears, but you did not bother to understand what happened inside, for it was no longer meaningful to you to know what happened to the tournament. And that’s when you were informed and guided by a strange man in a flat black suit to the medical wing, for which the entrance was supposed to be restrictive. You had no idea who that man was, and you forgot his face very soon.

The people there seemed unsurprised by your entrance, no one even bothered to question you while the kind nurse led you to a closed door. You walked past all those people casually lying or sitting there, who greeted you with interesting faces, as if they were expecting you to show up, which was strange, but you didn’t have the heart to think about it.

“He is here, please stay calm…”

You did not hear or understand much of her words, as you finally started to panic: What would be there waiting for you? Bones and flesh of the man you loved with your heart? Or someone had kindly stitched his cold body up? You couldn’t bear to look, but the kind nurse smiled in such a genuine way, there’s no other choice than entering the room.

And you screamed when you realized what was in there, with the volume barely controlled by your hands over your mouth.

Alan Wu was half lying on the bed, stitched from mouth corners to torso underneath the sheet, facing your direction with an emotionless face… he was probably still sleeping due to the surgical anesthesia, what a relief.

—————————

Alan had to admit that Huisheng and Guihun had indeed influenced his mental and physical status, as he did not even feel much pain when Kure Raian attempted and almost made it to kill him by tearing him apart. At that moment, he thought his life was about to end.

So this is karma, he remembered thinking, what a great finale for someone like me… and what a pity that I don’t want to accept it peacefully.

In fact, Alan was quite confused about how his mind was full of (Y/N) for a while until darkness finally immersed him. They were his strange friend for quite some time, ever since they first met when he bumped into them involved in underground fights. He remembered that when he looked into their eyes, underneath their harmless and even adorable appearance, he found some kind of unusual coldness and curiosity towards the brutality of such underground fights. This must be someone very used to such bloody fights, and yet they seemed so innocent when they smiled at his direction. How ironic, then, he thought, as I still fall for it at the first sight. Maybe it was being a member of Wu that made him have such a preference on the contrasting nature of someone like (Y/N), or perhaps there was something else, but that’s not important.

When he fainted, Alan couldn’t help but kept wondering if (Y/N), his close “friend”, would feel anything for his death.

Only fools would fall for such a coldhearted person like you, including me.

“Only fools would fall for a brainless man like you!”

What?

“I thought you would be one of those who are always calm and never let go of the upper hand! And then… you suddenly turned into that… uh! What was in your mind? You even brought a pocket knife or something with you on the ring? Seriously? You are a freaking A-list gladiator and you still… uh, nevermind...”

Wait…

“Do you know how shocked I was? You scared everyone with that… I can’t believe you almost died, though thanks to the doctor outside you are stitched back… wait, how exactly did it work? I need to ask him later… That Kure Raian, what’s wrong with him?”

So they came for a visit? Who let them in? More importantly, Alan thought confusingly, why am I STILL alive? And he soon pulsed thinking as he noticed (Y/N) had tears in their eyes while speaking in a quivering voice.

“What a fool I am…”

Huh…

“...to fall for you even if I know you are not that chilled as I thought you are… Alan, I’m really glad that you are still here with me—— ahem! Anyway, I am really glad you are (sober)...”

Alan clearly knew that he needed to wake up, at least fully open his eyes, but the blood loss plus the surgery and anesthesia was surely too much even for someone with the gene of Wu...

—————————

You felt much better after fiercely expressing your emotions (with a suppressed voice, of course) towards that sleeping man on the bed, so you wiped off the tears and adjusted your appearance with the reflection on your phone screen before finally grabbing your courage and walk up closer to check his wounds: how did the doctor make it to… let’s say, repair him? You were born with a curious nature, so you naturally thought it would be a great chance to take a closer look when he couldn’t stop you.

His skin was cooler than expected, but it was probably because of the blood loss before, and you were grateful for it being at least cool instead of stone cold. You could feel the slow but steady pulse under his skin when you touch it, and that single thing was already enough to calm you down. Crap, your eyes went teary again for that him alive meant at least a little more light could be shed onto your foolish imagination about the future you two might be able to share, you felt the need to wipe them off again.

When you finished rubbing your eyes and reopened them, you looked right into those familiar dark eyes of Alan Wu, who just happened to wake up.

How embarrassing.

“Um, hey, Alan, could you… hear me? It’s (Y/N)...” after an unknown period of time, you finally found your voice, “Wait, not this now, let me call the doctor and nurse——”

“Not now, (Y/N), wait,” his voice sounded hoarse and tired, “we need to talk.”

“W, what are you saying, your health is the most——”

“(Y/N), I am fine,” though he didn’t look so, “do you know who saved me, and who brought you here?”

“......” you tried your best to recall, but thanks to your nature that tends to ignore everything you are not interested in, you couldn’t remember much about any of that.

And Alan already knew that, as one corner of his mouth tilted a little when he said: “No worry, it would be better if you don’t know who they are, I did hear something when they sent me here. Just fragments, but that’s enough.” he refused your help when he struggled to sit up, “ (Y/N), I…” he paused, seemingly thinking hard, “...I know I did not tell you much about who I am and what I do, sorry.”

“Alan…”

“Let me finish this,” Alan sighed as he reached an arm out for you, “come here, (Y/N).”

You didn’t know he was strong enough to drag you into his arms even after being severely injured like this, and you barely made it to not press on his wounds when he did so. His muscular chest was warmer than his face, and here the steady heartbeat was more vivid. How could you not blush under such circumstances?

“I’m sorry about hiding everything from you.”

What’s going on?

“Depending on your speech just now, I guess we are both fools.” you could feel him chuckling in his embrace, “But that’s a better news than me being the only one strange, right?”

“What?!”

“(Y/N),” you felt his hand stroking on your back, “tell me, what do you really think of me?”

Somehow your intuition told you that this was the right chance to increase the possibility of you sharing that dreamed future with him, so you followed your heart and told him the truth, excluding that silly image of course.

And you got what you wanted for so long.

—————————

It was sure easier to think straight about details once ignored after his head cooled down. There might be scars left behind after the stitched wounds fully healed, but (Y/N) probably wouldn’t care, thought Alan when he comforted them. With the myth solved by confessing to each other, the only problem he still had would be how to get out of the stringing situation he was in because of who he was and what he had done. Of course, he would no longer wish to serve as a part of his family led by Edward, who sent him, intentionally or not, to die there. Nor could he join the other two branches of the family, due to the loss he had caused of them.

Come to think about it, the man who guided (Y/N) here was in a flat black suit? From his knowledge, that’s possibly… And that could explain why he was not left to die, unless the other two branches did have some mercy he believes none of the three branches would actually have.

It’s time to make a decision and try to form a deal with that one. As far as he knew, that one might be the only person who is able to influence the heads of the two family branches at this moment.

Besides, Alan glanced at the slightly opened door gap and smirked, it feels bad to be abandoned by the head of the family. Edward and the Worm probably did something outside his knowledge. He wouldn’t have minded over those things before, but now considering that he will soon have a family to take care of…

Let’s see, what should he do to protect his little fool’s bubble of happy ending?

—————————

Since it’s an elope, your ceremony was private and small, far from what you dreamed it would be as a child. Pitiful that your family couldn’t come and join you in celebration, but considering the fact that what Alan did was no different from being disowned by his family, it would be fair if there were only you two. And so it’s not a problem at all, as long as you are now formally bonded with the person you deeply adored even after knowing his past.

You will live together, far away from most of the familiar things. Sometimes there might be fights, but that’s ok. It would be enough to have him there for you, as you two fools finally had each other close in reach, with or without being congratulated by others.

Only a fool falls for such a dangerous man, which is clearly significant, but you were willing to be the fool from the beginning.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about writing how Raian participated in playing a trick that helped Alan to fake his death, which was impossible considering that man's nature, so I scratched it. Instead, the credits shall more likely belong to Hanafusa Hajime, our dear talented doctor, and... you know, the actual big boss who had his private troops all wear flat black suits.
> 
> This might be the best I could ever imagine to explain how Alan could survive under that terrible condition, and by the way, thanks to all artists on Twitter that drew about the survived Alan with stitches, I couldn't forget that image now.
> 
> The Chapter 96 was such a shock that it ruined my week, honestly, please forgive me if I made some errors here, as long as they are not too much an issue.  
> 96话真的把我刀傻了，放过孩子吧，有什么bug只要不明显就都求放过。
> 
> 但有一件事我必须说，我想娶阿兰当老婆嘿嘿嘿（狗头保命）。


	13. Wonder (Meguro Masaki/ female reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You fell for him in the most dangerous circumstances. The rush of adrenaline definitely influenced your nerve, and you took it willingly. Luckily or not, he had a similar feeling about you. Would he be your strongest shield and lock at the same time? More importantly, do you really want to give up the chance of staying with him for your own mental stability and physical security, if that's even an option?

How many times have you tried to see him again after the very first time you two met in the most unexpected circumstances? That man who saved you from the possibly most disastrous results of facing danger in the late night before disappearing in the dark, you just couldn’t forget him. What strong prowess had you witnessed! And such a muscular body! You remembered feeling your heart soaked with unnamed ecstasy when you looked into those widely opened eyes, that muscular body under the clothes, and his hands.

Those hands.

You just couldn’t forget anything you saw about him that night, and the desire to see him again had almost driven you crazy. Maybe you had confused the rush of adrenaline with something else, but whatever that was, it made you have a crush on this unknown man. You wanted to see him again, but how? You wondered, but the loss of sleep caused by your yearning to him made you soon forgot about it, as this yearning had nearly driven you crazy until you finally came up with an actual crazy idea: you would try to repeat what you did during that fateful night again and put yourself into some real danger.

In sum, that’s why you walked into the shadows of the city again tonight. You could feel malicious sights landing on you when you walked past those old streets, and someone had been following you all this time. It wouldn’t take them too long to figure out that you were by yourself and start to do something unfriendly to you, but you, under the impact of the dramatically increased adrenaline, could only feel your unsupressable impulse to see him again, even if you had no idea if your mysterious crush would appear or not.

But he did show up like a wonder, and you felt that familiar ecstasy when he swiped those scums away like nothing.

You could feel the rush of adrenaline within you pushing your heart to beat at an abnormal rate. It brought pain to your chest and shortened your breath, making you feel dizzy, though you felt nothing but that strange ecstasy: you made it, he did come!

—————————

Meguro Masaki felt confused. He didn’t understand why he would reach out to help a stranger who mistakenly stepped into somewhere she shouldn’t be in when he was hunting for tough fighters worth to be killed by the judo his father taught him. Why did I help this weakling? He wondered when turning around to glance at the shivering woman. What is this strange feeling? He wondered even more when he realized that his heart seemed twitched for a second when he saw that woman’s face, and her rigid standing pose: she was probably stunned by both the robbers and his sudden appearance. For some reason, her frightened reaction made Meguro feel bad, just a little, but that’s enough for someone like him. This curious feeling would only strengthen whenever he saw her, so Meguro believed it to be reasonable to keep an eye on her.

And he soon rejoiced for this decision, just a little.

Whatever was wrong with that woman made her decide to go and put herself in danger again, it would clearly harm her. At one moment, Meguro wondered why he was in this situation, but he still went on to clear those annoying scums. Good news for him, some of them were quite tough compared to others, enough for him to do his “practice”. It was at least tolerable to wipe them out, Meguro thought so when he turned around to face her again. What an interesting feeling, he felt a sense of wonderful relief once his eyes located on her face.

I want to make you mine, it must be wonderful.

—————————

The rush of adrenaline inundated you into even more abnormal over-breathing, and you fainted because of the following lack of oxygen. What a good start, you thought when you landed on something soft and warm like the human body.

When you woke up, you were inside a tidy apartment with simple furniture, and a lot of bookshelves. It was definitely not your home, you knew it, but who brought you in? Was “he” the one who did this?

Someone knocked on the door, and you answered it before remembering that you should stay alerted in this alien environment.

“Oh, you wake up. Good morning, miss.” The young man who entered the room looked quite similar to your mysterious crush, but you knew that’s not him for many small details. Besides, he started to explain quickly after his entrance, with a cup of café au lait stuffed into your hands. From what this friendly young man had told you, you slowly realized that your crush brought you back home after you fainted and let you sleep in the guest room until now. Somehow you did not ask him why you were not sent to the hospital after fainting, probably because you knew it would be a tough task to answer the doctors’ and nurses’, and even police’s questions in that case. Anyway, now you know where you were staying, but where was the man who brought you here? You wondered as you asked about it, and the friendly young man smirked in a teasing way: “Do you mean my older brother? He is waiting outside. I guess I should let him introduce himself to you, but before that, my apology for asking this late, I am Hayami Masaki, nice to meet you. What’s your name, miss?”

“Sai.” you heard yourself answering this young man who was no more than a stranger to you minutes ago, as you felt a sense of relaxation and trust from that warm smile on his face looked so similar to your dear stranger, your crush, who just entered the room as Hayami Masaki walked out.

—————————

“Good luck, my dear older brother,” Meguro heard his younger brother whisper to him when walking out of the room, to which he simply hummed in response, “we both probably need that.” Guess someone was planning on doing something interesting, but that’s none of his business.

For now, his top priority was that little creature (compared to him) on the bed, looking at him with a surprised but sincerely happy face. It’s really silly, but he did like it.

—————————

It was your first time seeing him under daylight and knowing his actual appearance, somehow no part of him, even the parts that were “a little unique” compared to others, triggered your alert. On the contrary, you found all of him deadly attractive to you, including his hands, for which one hand was big enough to hold both of yours in a grab, it must be a wonderful feeling to be held by him… wait, did you just stare at his direction without saying anything? Was you smiling in a foolish way when you did that?

You probably did, as you saw him tilting his head in confusion: “What are you doing?”

And you found yourself like his voice as well, even if it was just the first time you heard it. You were blushing.

“H, hi, I’m Sai. It’s a pleasure to m, meet you.” you bit your tongue, how awkward, “Th, thank you for saving me…!” but at least you made it to say thank you, though you still couldn’t release your true feelings.

“Meguro Masaki.” he replied with a confused face, “So, what were you doing?”

“W, what?”

“Hum… you really have a bad memory then?” Meguro Masaki seemed even more confused, “What a silly girl…” you heard him murmur, “You better stay here with me then.” He sounded very determined as if he was not restricting your freedom when he approached the bed and pressed you back down. Your café au lait was removed from your sweating hand before you could even take a sip of it, but you barely noticed that because he then licked your face.

“Um, Mr.Meguro…” you knew your voice was quivering with mixed feelings of fear and unreasonable excitement, “what are you doing...?” There was a voice in your mind saying that anything he does is acceptable, and you didn’t find it questionable.

“Checking,” said Meguro, “and either Meguro or Masaki will be fine, don’t call me mister.”

And he licked you again, and again.

—————————

It took Meguro a while to determine that it was her that made him feel strange, in a good way to him. I don’t want to lose her, Meguro thought so when he quickly decided to keep her by his side, though he was still wondering about why he would have such a feeling.

“But, but I still need to go to work…” Meguro guessed that this little creature had the same thoughts when she muted herself and blushed as he looked into her eyes, but then why did she still try to run away?

“Why? Don’t you want to stay with me? You were so happy to see me that you fainted.” I can’t let this happen, especially before I figure out what you are so special to me.

—————————

A part of you was yelling that you didn’t mind being locked up, while the rest of your rationality screamed at you about running away. In general, your head was a mess. The only thing you were able to say was: “I can explain.” But how?

Meguro was waiting for an answer when he changed into holding you with his two arms. Since when did your relationship become close enough that you could sit on his laps? The secretion of adrenaline made you feel a familiar dizziness, which somehow calms you down in a weird way that keeps only a part of you conscious, and you answered all his questions with a blushed face. The only thing you remembered saying was that you repeatedly talked about how you fell for him at the first glance and how you felt whenever you thought about him.

You remembered being snuggled tightly by those strong arms, blushing cheek on his neck, heart pumped at an insane rate. You remembered making the suggestion of starting with dating each other before officially moving in, to which he said no and held you tighter. So finally you made your compromise to him who turned out to be something more like a wayward child living in an adult man’s body.

And you liked that as well.

In the near future, around the time when you finally collected your courage and started to call him your boyfriend, you would learn more about this man that you are fascinated with when he was also learning more about you, and your relationship started like a wonder. You would try your best to introduce him to your way of life, though he wouldn’t take it seriously and dragged you into his way in return.

And you like that as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the same person I had set for the previous two Meguro pieces, hope you enjoy.
> 
> Happy birthday in advance, Sai.
> 
> (Sorry if the logic is problematic, please inform me if it's too severe)


	14. Bright side (Hayami Masaki x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the time for you to again tried to participate and act like a positive, normal, energetic college student for the chance to hang out with your crush. You probably never knew that you were not a good actor at any moment. Maybe you were more like a moth flying for that brightness... but that worth it, right?

It’s rare that you would actively participate in any kind of activities on campus, but recently you were, surprising to anyone who knew you well, highly active. Most of the people, especially your family and your close friends, thought that you were worrying about not having enough credits to graduate or not socializing enough during your college years, or even facing financial difficulty, but you know the exact reason why you were so abnormally active as a famous introverted person who’d rather stay indoor for a week than go to any fieldwork for extra credits in the past.

“Hey, (Y/N), sorry for being late. How’s it going?” And here was your reason, smiling brightly while waving at you from a distance.

“Hi, Hayami.” you instantly turned to him with that smile you practiced numerous times in front of the mirror before leaving your apartment, “Actually, you are right on time! My bad for coming too early here, I remembered a wrong time.” That was a lie, you intentionally came early to calm down and prepare to be the first one greeting him.

“Ah, still, that would be my responsibility since I was the one who set up the study group and contacted you to meet up here today. I should have double-checked with you yesterday, sorry for wasting your time.” Hayami Masaki, your crush, insisted on apologizing to you with a sincere smile, which you could never resist. You were soon convinced to accept his apology and agreed to call him next time before departing for any group activity in the future.

As if you could have that chance.

You knew who you were all the time. As someone who almost never paid attention to such activities before, you had already realized that participating in group works was a tiring job for you, no matter what kind of activity it was. You could hardly make it to talk to people in need as a volunteer, had no strength to participate in judo practicing, nor did you have much courage to open your mouth and discuss with others when studying in groups or working on projects with others. For someone so introverted and weak like you, all those events were just torture.

And that’s why you admired Hayami before realizing your true thoughts about him. He was just like the opposite of you: tall, strong, smart, polite, friendly to everyone, never showed a trace of being stressed by something, always have good grades in all classes or activities he participated in, seemingly knowledgeable about probably everything, naturally the leader, a man who could always lighten the mood of others… Everything you knew about him seemed to be so perfect, how could you not like him? And in addition to all those sparkling virtues of him you and other students strongly admired, the very fact that he was the one who reached out to invite you to join them when you two first met in the classroom with a big bright smile by itself was in fact more than enough to make you fall for him.

He was the one who gave you hope when you were awkwardly left alone by other students when the professor announced that everyone needed to cooperate with others to earn the credits. He was the one who patiently guided you through all the questions, consoled you over mistakes, encouraged you to talk to others and make new friends in the class… Even after that, he kept reaching out to you whenever there were activities or opportunities he believed to be helpful to you. How could you not like him, even if he was just treating you the same as any other friend of his?

Wait, could you two be considered friends by now? Uh, just thought about the possibility that he only invited you because you seemed pity was enough to erase all of your good moods, and the last thing you needed was any of that negative thoughts constantly haunting you like demons.

“... So I guess it will be just us then, and… (Y/N), (Y/N)? Are you ok?”

“What… Oh my, I was thinking about… Ahem! My apology, I thought you were talking to the other group members?”

“(Y/N),” Hayami smiled in a confusing way, “I was just saying… I guess the others are not coming today.”

“Oh, no, does it mean that we don’t… sorry for taking your time then Hayami.” Great, the study group would be canceled soon, you thought frustratedly and started to apologize as usual.

“What are you saying? Of course it isn’t a problem!” Hayami looked truly surprised, which was rare to see, but he soon replaced it with a bright smile, “We are still going to do our discussion together, right? Or do you have other plans?” He tilted his head in wonder, what an adorable image to see.

“N, no! I mean, I don’t have anything else to do today, and I really want this extra credit, so…” you tried your best to not blush when he was still looking at you, “S, sure, let’s go…” Think about the bright side, (Y/N), you told yourself, this would be the rare chance you always wanted! Some special time spent with your significant other! The perfect guy you always like! Now calm down and grab your courage and go join him!

And that’s how you entered the coffee shop with Hayami and accidentally ran into your old friends who teased you two (they had never met Hayami before). It must be a terrible thing for Hayami to be considered as your boyfriend, but how could you make it clear to your teasingly smirking friends before he starts to dislike you because of all the troubles you caused?

—————————

Things were going way better than expected, and it took Hayami slightly more time to react to his classmates’ messages about apologizing for being unable to come to the study group. As expected, though, none of them would ever have the chance to find out that it was him who both invited them and made sure they couldn’t come at the same time. Hayami felt like he could barely suppress that grin on his face. But wait, he needed to suppress it, or he might frighten (Y/N).

The least desired outcome at this moment would be scaring his precious (Y/N) away.

Nobody except his older brother knew how many times he had designed and scratched his plans of inviting (Y/N) out for multiple times. What he had done to get any closer to (Y/N) was enough for a TV series, the kind someone would find in those weird psychological documentaries. He couldn’t afford to let any other people, even his father know what he was planning, but his older brother, Meguro Masaki, was different.

In fact, they were always the same kind of person with demons hiding in them, he knew it ever since they spent time together for the first time when he was young. The only difference between them might be how they deal with their own demons. Unlike his older brother, Hayami Masaki was not encouraged to openly show his negative side. He always thought he was a coward, until last night when Meguro brought home a fainted young lady. That was the first time he saw his older brother in such a calm state with a stranger like that. And for some reason, the part of their story he knew reminded him of how he worked hard to get closer to (Y/N).

Oh, (Y/N), the most adorable little one he had ever met in his life. The only one that made him both want to suppress his demons and release them. I hope I can eat them, Hayami thought so when he adjusted his facial expression and turned around to (Y/N), but more importantly, I hope they don’t mind to only have an after-class discussion that will “accidentally” become a date with me later. In concern about the risk of touching their nerve, Hayami carefully braided his words before turning around and talking to (Y/N), who was always so adorable and calming to him.

Good news was, (Y/N) agreed to his suggestion with a blushing face, so cute in view. And even better news was, someone in the coffee shop joked on them for acting like they were dating… Or maybe not, they seemed to be frightened by that joke. But still, what a timid cutie... Hayami somehow remembered how his older brother carefully brought home his special lady, and he could feel that jealousy gradually flowing out of his heart.

Ops.

—————————

You couldn’t stop shivering when you realized that your friends’ careless joke might disgust your crush because they dared to pair such a bright young man like him with someone gloomy as you. But your inverted nature stopped you from saying anything as a response, so the only thing you could do was, like always, to look away and wait for everything to end without you. Think about the bright side, you told yourself, at least you have already stayed with him alone for a while today.

The noises were silenced quickly, but it was not because Hayami decided to leave the coffee shop because of your old friends’ rudeness. On the contrary, your old friends smiled at you, patted your shoulder, and left after having a private conversation with Hayami.

What a miracle, but if it is Hayami, then everything is possible. At least that’s what you believed in.

You thought you two would simply return to the study mode and do that actually meaningless after-class discussion, but Hayami guided you to sit down at the table with a sincere smile on his face instead.

“Um… Hayami?” You felt your face blushing as if all of your blood had rushed onto your face.

“Masaki.”

“What?”

“You can call me Masaki.” Hayami Masaki smiled shyly, “I mean, ahem, those people were your friends, right? I told them that a date could only be a date when there are only two of us. Besides, I was looking for a time to apologize to you about the extra credit…”

“What about that?” Something wasn’t right, your instinct told you, hopefully not about any stupid jokes or dares, which you strongly believed that Hayami would never voluntarily participate in, but… 

“It is actually not that important,” it might be your illusion, but the tips of Hayami’s ears were turning red, so cute, “sorry, (Y/N), I lied to you about it to make you agree to come and meet up during the weekends.”

“But, why?” You were never a smart person like him, and his words were just confusing.

“I… want to spend more time with you, so, um…” for the first time ever, you saw Hayami Masaki smiled nervously instead of showing his confidence, “(Y/N), I’m sorry that I wasn’t dare to ask earlier, but would you mind formally proceed this discussion to a date?”

Fireworks bloomed in your mind, unknown ecstasy rushed through your nerves, and your rationality was defeated by your sensibility, while the latter controlled you to say: “Yes.”

And your dear Masaki held your hands with the biggest brightest smile on his face: “I am so glad to hear that.”

…………………… 

You were blocked by your Masaki’s muscular arms and forced to sit on his laps, which were never considered threats until now, how strange.

“Forgive me, (Y/N),” he repeatedly kissed your blushing cheeks and neck, “pretty please…?” he laid his head on your shoulder, let you rub his spiky hair, “Don’t leave me…”

“I won’t.”

You only made it to comfort him with those two words, before you saw his eyes brightened while he held you tighter and kissed you.

—————————

After all, I am just like my older brother. But don’t worry, I will make sure my horrible side and those demonic thoughts couldn't hurt you, little silly attracted by my bright side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 我看人应该没那么准吧......这是我猜的，希望我猜错了。正树弟弟加油吧！
> 
> This chapter is actually related to the last one for they are on the same timeline. Hopefully it is less messy than I thought... 
> 
> Happy birthday, Verena.


	15. Charm (Hayakuwa Samato x gender fluid reader)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Growing up with a nominal cousin that was famous for hard to deal with and prowess, you found yourself drown in his charm, though others might refer it to a lack of experience with "good man". Whatever, you want what you like, and you were not afraid to work for it, even if the process wouldn't be pretty.

How many years had it been since the first time you spent time with your distant cousin Hayakuwa Samato? Probably nearly two decades ago, if your poor memory was right. In fact, according to your parents, it all started with a day when all of you were having a big dinner as distant relatives, from different branches, of one extended family, when the child you felt bored and wanted to get out of there and he was the only one that didn’t mind about leaving the boring dinner with a kid. Even though he was never the best babysitter or temporary supervisor by any means, you found that time, and all the times after that, relaxing and enjoyable to you.

Luckily, your parents seemed to be convinced by your reactions and requests, and considered him super reliable in babysitting, or you may never have the chance to hang out with him again since that day. Even better, his parents liked you a lot, since you were more adorable and easygoing, just like a little sweetheart compared to their son.

And so you two would hang out almost every month since you were in kindergarten, while he just turned into a young adult. All your mutual acquaintances would refer to you two as the closest distant cousins that looked just like actual siblings, as you were probably the only one peer that showed no fear of him, while he had never allowed anyone other than you, not even his own parents, to participate in such a large part of his life. You knew he has a special job and is super aggressive to anyone he doesn’t like or wants to start a fight with, but would secretly care about people he recognized as okayish. He knew you were a lazy night person that would prefer to stay inside whenever you could and even purposely decided to take a job offer after you graduate even if you are overqualified only because of it’s high working flexibility and relaxed working environment. You knew each other so well after being a part of each other’s life for so many years, it seemed to be very normal nowadays for you to immediately decide to go and live in his apartment once your vacation started.

Yes, it was clear to you that it might be inappropriate for you two as single adults staying so close and even frequently living under the same roof for days, especially when you two were not biologically and/or legally related, but none of you two cared about that: for Samato, it’s normal to have you take over his apartment whenever you have the time as a spoiled child, which he was partially responsible for; for you…

For you, any chance to spend time with your charming crush was critical and should not be missed under any circumstance.

You were always more mature and smarter than people thought you would be, ever since a young age. You clearly remembered that your parents and his parents did mention a few times in their casual conversations that you and Samato were not exactly cousins, but more like strangers that shared the same in-laws. Maybe it was at that time your mindset started to change, or maybe it was when he got your back and secretly beat the bullies for you, or maybe it was when you realized that he was always there to affirm your ideas and decisions, maybe it was because you could be yourselves whenever in front of each other, or maybe you were just attracted by his physical prowess as a tough fighter and his unique personality… There was a long list of charming points you could talk about this man who had been your crush for more than a decade, and he knew that since a long time ago thanks to your constant love confession to him, to which he persistently laughed off.

Samato always turned you down with the excuse that you two were cousins, and you were just a 6-year-old kid to him all the time, what a frustrating response. It had been six years since you first told him your feelings about him as a teenager, and you kept trying every Valentine’s Day and every birthday (both yours and his since you always celebrate together), as well as Christmas, New Year… And every time, his direct rejection and unchanged attitude to you were simply frustrating. Was you a person that had no charm to him? Did he have anyone in his mind? You couldn’t tell, since you had never seen or heard about him dating anyone in the past, so maybe there was still hope.

It was thus reasonable for you to decide to take a different strategy this year, so you could at least give up with clear reasons once it’s determined that he never liked you more than as a young cousin and some kind of pet of his. To do so, you had to collaborate with some friends in advance.

————————

Hayakuwa Samato just happened to have the time to notice that (Y/N), his nominal cousin, was acting strange recently: They hadn’t tried to approach him and play that silly love confession game even once ever since arriving at his apartment this time. Instead, they turned to spend most of their time either staying in their own room (yes, they had their own room in Samato’s bought apartment) or going out, seemingly hanging out with someone he didn’t know. Not to say that he liked the crappy jokes about (Y/N) liked pretending to have a crush on him and had those childish but rather creative confession-like speech for him from time to time, Samato thought he felt weird because he was too used to have them make those jokes every time they hanged out, and he might have slightly missed the time when they sticked to him while tried their best to be not annoying, what a clingy kid. But wait, why did they suddenly stop being clingy?

It would be nearly impossible to have someone abruptly change their habits without any significant changes in their life, which Samato knew was not the case for (Y/N), or they wouldn’t just casually come here and live with him as usual, and their doting parents would definitely contact him ahead.

What could make a super indoor night owl decide to wake up early everyday, study fashion trends, frequently leave the house for a long time, pay an insane amount of attention to their own appearance before going out, practice cooking delicate dishes, giggle when making long phone calls? The only answer then, Samato thought, was that (Y/N) found someone else to be clingy to. Samato knew he should feel happy and relieved as an older cousin, but he didn’t.

Hayakuwa Samato knew that he might be indifferent to boring things happening around him, but (Y/N) was never a part of those boring things. They were at least more tolerable as a person smarter and stronger than most of the weaklings around him, even though they knew little about fighting. This might be due to the fact that they knew each other for years, as they had witnessed and experienced the ups and downs of lives both on their own and together. He knew everything (Y/N) was willing to share with him or not, and so did them. Come to think about it, they had been considered first as siblings, then oddly close friends and even a dating couple throughout the years. Maybe (Y/N) finally found those questioning sights and words annoying and even disgusting, so they went on to find someone else that’s more appropriate to them, at least at the age part, for a normal romantic relationship, which of course was none of his business.

And yet, yes, he did start to weird for being left behind by that kid. It was not him feeling lonely, but him as the older one among them two and their temporary supervisor for years had the obligation to look after them regarding their taste in choosing dating partners. 

At first, Samato told himself that he should wait for (Y/N) to share with him about their dates and the one(s) they were dating. But after weeks of not having valid and meaningful in person conversations at home, Samato finally started to feel a little strange. The food they cooked was gradually becoming tastier, but just thinking about the fact that he was just helping with cleaning up the practice materials they made for preparing to feed their new significant other was enough for him to feel weird.

Was that anxiety he felt?

Who the heck was (Y/N) simping for?! Was they so charming that (Y/N) would do anything for them? What kind of coward was that person who avoided coming for a visit and disagreed with (Y/N) about being introduced to him? And what a terrible person they were to alienate him from the social circle of (Y/N)...

Wait, what?

Samato felt confused about the sense of anxiety caused by unable to spend time with (Y/N) like before, and such confusion gradually accumulated also intensified his sense of anxiety in turn. In time, there seemed to be a vicious circle of negative thoughts and emotions stuffing his mind and poisoning his heart, erasing his patience on waiting for (Y/N) to bring that person home.

As if he really wanted to see that one person who stole (Y/N) and deprive his right to be a part of their life.

Unlike he had believed in all those years before, Samato just unfortunately realized that he was not aromantic but just not interested in anyone other than this creature named (Y/N) that he had known for and was used to for years. He thought he saw them as a younger cousin that always needed to be looked after, but in fact he was more likely considering them as his possession since some mysterious time ago. And yet he claimed to see them as a kid forever, as he rejected their confessions whether they were sincere or not at all the time. Maybe that’s why they grew tired of him and decided to move on for an actual date with someone that’s more charming? Speaking of which, did they mention earlier this morning that they are going out again today?

That’s intolerable.

————————

You couldn't deny that you felt a little better when he finally stopped you at the porch, gripped your arms and questioned you about where you were going and who you were about to meet with a gloomy face, both for it’s a sign that he still cared about you and for it’s him who suffered this time. And soon things went even better when he started to complain about you ignoring him with a seemingly suppressed voice that was full of emotions other than you would expect from someone who only treats you as a child. It could be possible for you to believe that he liked you as well then, right? Hopefully the charm of your tricks worked.

“...Whoever that idiot is, dump them.”

“What?”

“I said, whoever that idiot you are going out to visit is, dump that useless scum!” It seems like the topic went out of track at some point when you were distracted by the flimsy beam of hope and remained silent.

“But, Samato…” For a while, you hesitated on confessing about your plan, which was misunderstood as a sign of rejection.

“(Y/N)! Seriously? Who is that?”

You could feel him gripping you tighter, that hurt.

“Samato, wait, ouch, that, that hurts…”

“Promise me you will dump that stupid people first then!”

“But, but, Samato, there is no such person… Samato?”

Those dark eyes locked on you had fire burning within, he must be furious then, but you couldn’t run away this time. Hopefully you could survive it in a whole piece.

“Then why the heck do you change the way you live?” To your surprise, Samato did not get mad at you on site, but started to ask questions with a terrifying calm voice and blushing face… what a sight.

“I signed up for some classes on those things with my friends who also wanted to improve themselves.”

“Improving yourself with dressing up and cooking like an average trendy kid? That’s not your style, don’t lie to me. You are dating someone, right?”

“I AM NOT!” you lost control as he kept doubting you, “I, was, dressing up, for you! Come on, don’t give me that look, I thought if I change my dressing style everyday you will at least notice it and like some of my looks. And for cooking, have you seen me taking any food out for once? THOSE WERE FOR YOU! Didn’t you eat them?” the secretion of adrenaline pushed you to speak in a quick and loud way, “Seriously? You think that I, after sticking up to you like an idiot for years, would simply change my mind for someone else and leave you? Do you know how my friends are laughing at me because I am simping for you? Do you know that auntie bought me clothes that shared the same style as yours and I couldn’t wear them because I don’t want to disgust you? Do you know how many times we were paired up and considered as a couple that even I was nearly convinced at some times? Do you have any idea about how many people have asked me if we are dating, and if we are not, can I help them to give you their numbers? You don’t know, right? You just don’t care about… wait, where are you dragging me to?!”

“Whatever plan you had for today, cancel it. We are going to the city hall.”

“B, but what for?”

“Registration.”

“What?!”

It all took place within an hour, and you didn’t even get to react until you heard the officers in charge say “congratulations and happy marriage” when Samato held your hand and brought you out.

“Samato, did they just say…”

“Yes, they said congratulations. And yes, we are a married couple now.” Samato kissed your blushing cheek when he finally stopped frowning and smiled, “Let’s go home together, we have a lot more to do back home.”

“Like…?”

“You should move in as soon as possible, don’t you? Don’t you dare to go back to your parents’ house after this vacation, we should be living together, in the same bedroom, starting today.” Samato’s teasing grin had never been so powerful to you, as you could feel your blushing face became even hotter when you heard him speaking.

You could never resist his charm when he released it.

…………………… 

Of course, a marriage like this is typically considered as elope, and you two suffered heavy scolding from both sides, especially your parents, who were shocked by your thoughtless behaviors and your marriage with this man much older than you: they had never thought of him as a candidate for their future child-in-law. Also, most of your acquaintances, except for some who smirked and said “I knew you two were a thing”, heavily criticized your weird relationship and called it a terrible decision. Both you and your husband soon got tired of those words and their harsh kindness, and it seemed like they wouldn’t stop in the near future.

So you decided to let your dear husband plan your honeymoon, even if it ended up to be something very close to a round the world trip combined with him challenging those tough fighters on the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the outline of this story in my mind for months, only to write it out now out of some sort of impulse that might be related to my own anxiety. I hope I had made it clear in text that Hayakuwa Samato had never understood his own heart, unlike his (Y/N), until things started to change. On top of that, I would argue that this man is a typical tsundere.
> 
> And I love him.
> 
> 【好歹也是我最喜欢角色里前四，不爆个肝爆个字数对不起他啊】
> 
> 小剧场1:  
> 某位姓暮石的朋友：“哟！（Y/N）酱！好久不见呀～听说你被早锹左马斗逼婚了？啧啧啧，这这家伙玩光源式养成也就算了，连你情我愿的基本原则都不懂吗，真是苦了你了……”  
> 某位路过的池内先生：（旁听，默默点头）  
> 左马斗：“喂，你这家伙……（准备揍人）”  
> 你：“（大脑空白下意识拉住他）没有没有不是你们想的那样啦我们处的挺好的再说就算是养成那也是我——啊不什么都没有你们别这样看我啊？！（想逃跑却反被拉住拖走）”  
> 某两位（事实上是几位）：“……原来如此……”“哇哦，（Y/N）酱你真会玩哎……”“总觉得我不该在这里听到这些话……”  
> 左马斗：“哈啊？你在说什么呢？！给我过来！”  
> 你：“……啊哈哈哈我说了什么吗——哥我错了我错了呜呜呜呜呜呜（被拖走）”  
> ——欲知后事如何，等我哪天想写了发车再说吧——


End file.
